NFL Rush Zone: Rise of Endgame
by Nobel Six
Summary: Something has woken up in Canton. Something old and powerful. Now the Guardians must defend the Megacores from a new enemy stronger than any they have faced before: the monstrous Endgame.
1. Chapter 1

Night had fallen over the town of Canton ,Ohio. The crickets where chirping in the cool night air, and everything seemed peaceful, but that was not the case for two young boys who where approaching a construction yard that had a sign that read, "Danger keep out!" on a sign that hung from the front gate.

"I'm telling you we really shouldn't be here." 11 year old Keith Jeffrey warned his friend, 11 year old Jacob Morrison.

"You're the one who threw the football over my head and over the fence, we want the ball back, we climb over the fence and into the construction yard." Jacob said with a dismissive tone as he climbed over the fence and stepped into the abandoned construction yard.

"I know but, this place was shut down for a reason; the whole ground is unstable. Remember the news? Workers fell into some kind of sinkhole. I don't know about you, but falling into sinkholes is not high on my bucket list." Keith said as he carefully climbed over the fence after his best friend.

"You scare to easily! Besides, that's my only football and I really want it back." Jacob said as he pulled a flashlight out of his left pocket and began looking around for his lost football.

"If you insist, Jake," Keith said with a sight as he pulled out his own flashlight and began looking around the yard for the missing football. The yard was filled with heavy machinery that the construction company had yet to remove. The place was supposed to have been a small restaurant, but after the discovery of weak ground the whole project had been abandoned. Now a place that was once filled with the buzz of machines and workers had become a silent scar on the land. The two boys continued searching for a few minutes before Keith spotted the football laying next to a bulldozer.

"Jake I got it," Keith said with a smile on his face as he ran over to the football and bent down to pick it up. But just as he picked up the football, the ground began to crumble beneath his feet. Keith leaped back, scrambling away from the new hole, but it continued to expand.

"Jake help!" Keith yelled as he tried to crawl away from the still growing hole. Keith suddenly lost his grip on the slippery dirt and he felt himself sliding into the hole, just as he closed his eyes and prepare for the fall, he heard a scuffle and he felt a hand grab his. Opening his eyes he saw Jake holding unto his hand, using all his strength to save his best friend from falling into the hole.

"I got you, just hold on!" Jake shouted as he leaned backwards, pulling his friend out of the hole. They both collapsed on the ground a few feet away from the pit, watching with wide eyes as it's expansion slowed and stopped.

"You just saved my life, thanks Jake." Keith gasped a he tried to overcome the shock of the experience.

"Your like a brother to me, I'll be there whenever you need me." Jake said as he gave his best friend a small pat on the back.

"Sorry I lost the football, Jake." Keith apologized.

"I can get a new one," Jake reassured his best friend as he gave him a small pat on the back. Suddenly the football that had just fallen into the hole soared up through the hole and landed at the boys feet.

"What the?" Jake whispered as he and Keith got up and slowly walked to the edge of the hole. Jake shown his flashlight down the hole and tried to see what had thrown the football back up. Suddenly with a mechanical roar, a metal hand the size of Jake's torso reached up out of the pit and grabbed him by the waist. Jake barely had a second to realize what was happening before the hand pulled him back into the hole. The last thing Keith saw of his best friend was Jake's face as he let out a terrified scream, before disappearing from sight.

Keith stood stunned for a few seconds at the hole that his best friend had been pulled into.

"Jake?" Keith said in a whisper as he slowly walked towards the hole, despite every fiber in his body telling him that he should run away. He got up to the edge of the hole and was about toe shine his flashlight down the hole when two red circles lit up the pitch black hole, peering at him like eyes.

Keith screamed at the top of his lungs and ran away at full speed, he looked behind him expecting to see something chasing him, but he saw nothing, the construction sight seemed almost peaceful.

Suddenly the ground in front of him exploded as something huge heaved itself above ground. The thing towered over him, and gleamed like metal in the light of his flashlight. Panting with exertion and terror, Keith turned to run in a different direction, but the monsters giant metal hand snapped out with blinding speed and closed around him.

The metal thing raised Keith up to its eye level, glaring at him with the harsh red lights that served as its eyes. Keith struggled helplessly, battering at the things hand with his fists. But it didn't do any good. Something under the ground shifted, and the metal monster sank back into the new hole that it had created, taking its new hostage with it


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm so happy you all enjoyed the first chapter. If you want to learn more about the show go to NFL Rush dot com / Guardians to learn more about the characters. Had to spell out the dot com part since this site dosen't lie website names in stories. Here is a chapter focusing on the Guardians**

The following morning miles away from the construction site a football field was awakening from it's slumber and coming to life. It was almost time for another season of football, and the Canton Bulldogs where all excited and ready for a brand new year. They had won the championship the season before, and where eager to repeat. Right now the locker room was humming with life as all the players got dressed in their gear and where getting ready to take the field. Suddenly a whistle blew inside the locker room telling all the players to huddle up, they bustled to their coach, Coach Jones, and his step son Jackson.

"Alright everyone I know everyone is excited to begin another season of Bulldog football," he began which got a big whoop from all the players. Jones silenced the hollering players by raising his right hand, now with a serious expression on his normally happy face. "But I've got bad news: last night our starting Corner-back Jake, and our Defensive Tackle Keith were reported missing. I really want to ask all of you to pray that they are found safely and quickly." The players nodded solemnly, the pre-game mood now completely changed. Jones gave a heavy sigh as he adjusted his hat. Suddenly one of his players raised a hand.

"Yes, Ish?" Jones asked the young African American player.

"Coach I don't want to sound insensitive, but if I'm allowed to ask, who will be filling those voids? Because I don't think they should be filled out of respect for them." Ish said.

"Well if we turn to the TV to the right, I have your answer, Ish." Jones said as he pointed to the television that was in the corner of the teams locker room, which was normally used for watching game film. The TV was turned on and showed an 11 year old white player in a red and blue jersey wearing number 72, "This is Carlos Nixon, he's transferring to our league form the Clippers across town, he's big, he's fast, and he's a Quarterback nightmare registering 14.5 sacks last season, in fact he's got the nickname of 'The Wall'," Jones said as Nixon's highlights where shown, and everyone had to admit they where very impressed.

As for the cornerback vacancy, everyone meet Joseph Sanders," Jones said as he pressed a button on the remote and showed another white kid wearing a dark blue jersey with a green number 26 on his chest, "Sanders models himself after retired NFL cornerback Asante Samuel, and plays just like him, Sanders was cut by the Cyclones after an injury forced him to miss over half the season last year, and needless to say, he's eager to prove himself to us." Jones said to all his players. This time the Korean-American Troy raised his hand.

"Just how good is this Sanders? Is he good, or will I just run right past him like I usually do with my defender?" Troy said in a confident tone which earned a fist bump from Marty.

"You'll be lucky to get past him, Troy," Jones said as he pressed another button on the remote and began showing Sander's highlights, and they where even better than Nixon's, Sanders seemed to be everywhere the ball was, "Sanders is fast, and he's a ball hawk, we're lucky to have pulled him away from the Cyclones." Jones said as the team continued to watch his highlights, which had now just turned into interception after interception. "As much as I hate to replace Jake and Keith in light of what happened to them, this is football, and I had to move fast since both these young all-stars where hot names, and many teams where interested. So let's get on the field and start practicing." Jones said, smiling at the team.

The team gave a big yell and rushed out the locker room door and out unto the field, where they quickly got into groups and began practicing. Ish and Troy joined with their best friends, Marty, Ashley 'Ash', and Tua.

"Hey guy's you ready for another great season?" Ish asked his friends in an excited tone.

"You bet I'm ready," Troy said as he put his white and blue helmet on, "We won the championship last year, so I'm ready for a repeat ." he said in a confident tone. His friends nodded, except for Ash who had hung her head low in contemplation as she brushed some of her red hair out of her eyes.

"Something wrong, Ash." Ish asked his best friend in a concerned tone.

"It's nothing, I just... it's hard to think about what might have happened to Jake and Keith, I mean they where... are our friends, and coach just replaced them." Ash said as she made a fist with her right hand.

"I understand that, Ash," Ish said as he tried to comfort his best friend, "I can tell coach didn't want to replace them, but he had no choice, this is football, players will need to be replaced. I just hope they're okay."Ish said as he took a knee, which his friends did as well and the group took a knee in silence out of respect for their missing friends.

Suddenly two new players walked upon the group and stood their waiting for the group to finish taking their knee. Turning around Ish immediately recognized the number 72, and 26.

"Hey you mind if we join you? Coach said Troy is the best wide out on the team, and I like to practice against the best." Joseph asked his QB.

"We don't mind if you join us," Troy said as he stood up and started looking over Joseph and Carlos, "Just try and keep up." Troy said with a smirk as he took a wide receiver stance.

"Don't complain when I knock you on the ground," Joseph replied as he took up a stance in front of Troy.

"Hey Ish, why don't you have Tua block for you, see if Carlos can get to you?" Ash suggested to her best friend.

"Good idea, Ash, you always remind me why you are the smart one." Ish said with a small laugh which caused Ash to giggle slightly. Tua gave a laugh of his own as he picked a football off the ground and took up the position of center. Carlos lined up opposite of of Tua and took his defensive stance.

"Hike!" Ish yelled as he took the snap from Tua and dropped back to throw. However he didn't get much time to think as he saw Carlos perform a perfect spin move and get around Tua and quickly crash into him and knock him to the ground, where he laid their stunned for a second.

"Hope I didn't hurt you man," Carlos said with a small laugh as he stood over Ish and extended a hand to his quarterback, which Ish took and Carlos helped pull him to a standing position, "They call me 'the Wall' for a reason, man! it takes two or three guys to block me." Carlos pounded his chest with a grin.

"Yeah, I think I'm starting to see why they call you that," Ish said with a laugh and a grin on his face a he patted Carlos's helmet, which the defensive lineman to laugh. "Let me throw this time, Carlos. I really want to test out Joseph and see how good he is."

Carlos nodded and, Tua took the football again, getting ready to hike. Just before he could, he heard Coach Jones blow his whistle, signaling for everyone to huddle up. The group jogged back to the benches, Ish, Tua, Marty and Troy lining up on offense, while Carlos and Joseph got into the defensive huddle.

"Slant rout to Troy." Jones ordered Ish, which caused the young gunslinger to nod.

"Ready, break!" Ish shouted as his offensive group broke their huddle and took up their positions, on the adverse Joseph and the defense broke their huddle and took up their defensive stances. "Ready, set, hike!" Ish yelled as he took the snap and dropped back to throw, he looked on the right for Troy, hoping that his speed would allow him to get away from Joseph, however another problem presented itself as Carlos burst through the left tackle and began to charge at Ish like a raging bull.

Ish decided to take off and run. He tucked the football and took of running towards the right side of the field, however what he saw next almost made him stop and take a slide as he saw Joseph break away from Troy and start charging at him from the front, what happened next surprised the young quarterback as he suddenly felt himself get grabbed by his waist from behind and get pulled to the ground, by Carlos.

"Good job Carlos!" coach Jones congratulated his defensive lineman.

"You aint seen nothing yet coach, I'm just getting warmed up." Carlos said as he once again pounded a fist into his chest. Ish stood up on his own and brought quickly got back to the huddle.

"Alright let's try a flea flicker, Marty please block Carlos for me?" Ish asked his blonde friend. Marty smiled and nodded silently as he gave his best friend a thumbs up, "Ready, break!" Ish shouted as the huddle broke, the defense broke their huddle as well and took up their stances opposite of their offensive counter parts. "Ready, set, hike!" Ish yelled as he took the snap and handed off to Marty, Marty took the handoff and rushed forward a few feet before turning around tossing the ball back to his quarterback. He then proceeded to block Carlos who had once again gotten through the offensive line. Ish saw Troy deep and threw the ball with all his might, once that ball was in the air Ish just stood there and watched to see where it was going to land.

Troy brought up his hand to catch the ball, but what happened next surprised the Korean-American as Joseph suddenly appeared in his vision and jumped in front of the ball and pulled off a perfect interception. Time seemed to slow down for Troy as he quickly recovered from his initial shock and tried to dive forward and wrap his arms around Joseph to prevent him from getting any additional yards, but Joseph quickly got out of Troy's reach and began speeding down the sideline, where he was first met by Marty who was preparing to tackle the cornerback, but Joseph pulled off a spin move that Adrian Peterson would have been proud of and spun out of the way of the young running back. Joseph a few seconds later found himself in the end zone, to which he celebrated by giving a mile high salute.

"Well done, Joseph!" Coach Jones congratulated the young cornerback as Joseph ran back to the line of scrimmage and handed Ish the ball.

*Later*

"That was a brutal practice." Troy said with a groan as he took a seat on the bleachers.

"Tell me about it, I'm the one who threw three interceptions to Joseph." Ish said with a groan of his own as he hung his head low in defeat. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up and saw Ash there surprisingly smiling.

"Don't feel bad Ish, we all have a bad day, you made a couple of bad throws, but once you stopped throwing to Joseph's side of the field you completed nearly every one of your throws, so hold your head up." Ash said as she gave her best friend a pat on the back, "Besides I had a good practice, I made all ten of my kicks." Ash said with a grin on her face which caused everyone to laugh. Suddenly their NFL R'S on their left wrists started to beep, indicating an incoming message. They all looked around to make sure nobody could hear the beeping before they allowed the incoming message though.

"What's up Ish?" Tua asked his leader.

"The message simply says to come by the Hall of Knowledge, Let's get down there." Ish ordered as he and his friends grabbed their bags and began to quickly make their way towards the Pro Football Hall of Fame.


	3. Chapter 3

The Pro Football Hall of Fame, a shrine to the best players of all time, but also served as the secret headquarters of the Leagues Guardians. The five young players went down a small hallway of the HOF, which led to seemingly a mirror, but the Guardians knew it wasn't just a mirror. Adjusting their NFL-R's slightly a beam shone from them into the mirror, which allowed them to walk through the mirror and into the Hall of Knowledge, home to their leader, an holographic Artificial Intelligence head by the name of RZ.

"Greetings Guardians, I am sorry to pull you from your activities, but this is most urgent," he began, which got their full attention, "The Bears Rusher had reported Blitzborg activity near the stadium, while he was able to repeal the attack, I suspect we have only seen the first wave, I'm sending you all to Chicago to assist in clearing the area if needed.

"You got it, RZ, we'll take care of the Anticorians minions." Ish said confidently.

"Yea, nobody messes with my Bears." Tua said in a confident tone as he raised a fist for extra emphasis. Everybody else was confident as well, except for Ash, who seemed to have a confused look on her face.

"Is something wrong, Ash?" RZ asked the young female Guardian.

"I find it weird that the Anticorians are attacking now, wouldn't the Megacores not have much power yet since it's still the off-season?" she asked her leader, which caused RZ to chuckle slightly.

"Your not wrong, however the off-season presents a time of hope for ever team, whether it be re-signing a player, or adding a big name free agent, the cores harness the energy that comes from the hope. I believe that's why the Anticorians are trying to steal them now of all time," RZ explained, which got a head nod from all the Guardians, "Ricky is already in Chicago, you are the meet up with him and assist in clearing the area if needed, good luck Guardians." RZ said to his Guardians. All the guardians exchanged a silent look before raising their NFL-R's and giving the command, "Enter the Rush Zone!" and their clothes where immediately replaced by their Guardian armor.

In the back of the room lied portals to 32 destinations, each one would take you to a different team stadium, the Guardians went to the one with the Bears head over it and walked through. As they rode through the portal the Guardians had a lot on their minds, each of them where surprised that the Anticorians had ordered an attack on Chicago, for since they had disappeared shortly before they had beat Sudden Death, they had been in hiding, but they knew it was only a matter of time until they showed their ugly faces again, and it seemed that with the Bears Meagacore being charged by the hope of a brand new season, they couldn't resist the opportunity to try and steal it. However as they neared their destination, the guardians had no idea that something much worse than Anticorians and their Blitzborgs would be their waiting for them.

 **-Meanwhile-**

Deep beneath the construction site in Canton, something sat watching.

It had carefully hacked into the security network of the Soldier Field stadium and was trawling through camera feeds. A screen lit up before the observing figure, illuminating a skeletal face plate of black metal.

On the security feed, Blitzborgs scurried through the stadium halls. The figure's eyes narrowed- it was familiar with Blitzborgs. Even if these were a different model, the Anticorian technology was unmistakable.

Then a new figure appeared on the security feet, Grizzly the Bears Rusher. He charged at the approaching Blitzborgs and plowed through them, scattering the murderous robots across the hall.

The figure tensed, clawed metal hands snapping into fists. A Rusher. Oh, how it despised Rushers. It had becomes suspicious upon discovering that football existed on this planet, and even more so upon recognizing the unmistakable feel of Megacore energy. But this removed all doubt.

The figure leaned forwards into the light of the screen. Black metal armor gleamed across its mechanical frame. It had been a living, breathing creature once. But now it had replaced every bit of flesh with unforgiving pistons and wires.

The figure looked away from its screen. It was seated on what had once been a great throne on the bridge of a powerful star cruiser. It had been able to hook itself up to the whole of the ship, and control it as an extension of its body. But now, crashed here on this planet, its capabilities had been severely reduced. All it had left was its specially made borgs.

But that was enough.

Behind the mangled throne stood thirty two massive pods, equidistant from each other.

With a blink, the figure wirelessly connected with one of the pods and activated it. The pod lit up in teal and orange, and unfolded to reveal a hunched, bulky form. It's eyes lit up blank white, and stood with a rumble, revealing a giant humanoid robot with the head of a bear.

The figure turned back to its screen, and the bear robot turned and began to march off of the star cruiser bridge, heading to the surface. For it would in moments be boarding a shuttle and heading of to this city, to accomplish it's goal, destroy the Rusher, and the Megacore at all costs.

 **-Meanwhile-**

The Guardians had just exited the portal and now found themselves in Soldier Field, not to far away form the Bears Megacore vault.

"Looks quite." Ash said as she began to look around for any possible blitzborg activity.

"That's because you just missed the party." a voice called out to the guardians. They all turned to the right and saw Ricky leaning against the wall, still in his Guardian armor.

"The Anticorians themselves didn't show up, which meant defeating their borgs was almost to easy." the Mexican-American Guardian boasted in a confident tone.

"Glad you took care of yourself, Ricky." Ish said to his friend.

"Bears Rusher is still in the Megacore vault, I suggest we check in with him before we check the rest of the area." Ricky suggested to his leader, to which Ish responded with a nod of his armored head.

"Let's meet up with Grizzly and make sure there is no damage to the Megacore vault." Ish ordered his fellow Guardians, to which they responded by falling in behind their leader and following him.

"Good to see you, Guardians," the Bears Rusher greeted them upon them arriving at the Vault entrance, "nobody got through the vault door, and at first glance it seems like they didn't even get close." he said as he looked over the solid steel door that guarded the teams Megacore.

"We should still check on the Megacore just to make sure that nobody got through the door." Ish said to the Rusher, which caused him to nod his head in approval.

The rusher went up to the door and pressed a hidden button, which caused the doors to open with a mechanical hiss, and reveal the teams Megacore vault, which inside the vault, sitting on a podium protected by a blue force field sat what appeared to be a football, but it was no ordinary football, for it was dark blue and had the Bears logo on other side of it, and the ball glowed with a bluish white energy, it was the Chicago Bears Megacore.

"Looks like nobody got through," Marty said as he looked over the inner vault. "Finally we catch a break." Marty said with a huge grin on his face that nobody could see due to his Guardian armor. As soon as the words had left the Jewish Blondes mouth the ground above them began to shake.

"Me and my big mouth." Marty said with a groan as he and the other Guardians, and the Bears Rusher all took up a defensive stance in front of the Megacore. The ceiling above them gave way and in dropped a huge mechanical beast. Ish estimated easily over ten feet tall, it looked almost like a giant mechanical bear.

"Your not welcomed here!" Ricky shouted as he fired an energy blast form his fist at the mechanical beast, but the blast simply bounced off the beast like it didn't even bother him. The beast ignored the attack and began looking around, then it's eyes noticed the Bears Rusher. The mechanical monstrosity let out a deafening mechanical roar and charged, not at the Guardians, but rather at the Rusher.

Grizzly jumped in the air and tried to slash the beast across it's mechanical face, however the beast raised a paw and swatted him to the side like it was nothing, resulting in Grizzly flying into a corner at the edge of the vault. The beast proceeded to charge at Grizzly with furious anger, but Ish had other ideas.

"Defense engage!" he shouted as he raised his hands and an energy shield emerged and momentarily stopped the beast's advancement. However it did not last for long at the beast let out a roar and began to easily push Ish and his shield backwards as it tried to get to it's target. The other Guardians quickly got involved and activated their defense power up as well, which resulted in the beast no longer trying to move forward.

It stopped and seemingly just stood there looking over the Guardians, like it was confused. Then it's eyes narrowed and it emanated a smoke screen from it's mouth and disappearing behind a patch of concealing smoke.

The Guardians quickly got rid of the smoke, only to find that the beast had seemingly vanished all together.

"I don't know about you, but that was no Blitzbot or Blitzborg." Ash said as the rest of the Guardians agreed with her in a stunned silence, it was Grizzly who broke the silence.

"Thanks for the save, Guardians," he began with a serious expression on his face, "We need to return to RZ immediately and inform him of this right away." Grizzly ordered the Guardians. They all nodded silently and activated the passage back to the Hall of Knowledge, and went through it.

 **-Meanwhile-**

The Mechanical Bear was now resting in it's pod upon returning to it's ship, which left the being controlling it, to ponder what had just happened. For it seemed the Rushers had associated themselves with the inhabitants of this world, and where using them to help defend their precious Megacores. It would take more knowledge before the next attack was launched.


	4. Chapter 4

"Guardians what you've told me is, most disturbing." RZ said to his Guardians after they had informed their leader about what had happened at Soldier Field.

"It ignored the Megacore and went straight for Grizzly." Ish informed his leader, as they stood around him, now wearing civilian attire.

"This is most interesting, yet I cannot figure out why the Anticorians would order an attack on a Rusher." RZ said as he tried to figure out why the Anticorians would at first send an attack on Soldier Field, and then ignore the Bears Megacore, and then go after the Rusher instead.

"This wasn't Anticorian technology," Grizzly said as he stepped forward, "This was something more advanced. Normally an energy blast from a Guardian will knock an Anticorian Blitzborg off it's feet, this thing just took the blast like it didn't even feel it." Grizzly informed the AI.

"What your telling me is that this is not from the Anticorians, and I can tell this was not one of Wildcards Blitzbotz, so I have no idea what to make of this." RZ said simply which stunned the Guardians, for RZ almost always had the answer.

Suddenly an alarm started blaring in the Hall of Knowledge, signaling a disturbance.

"What's going on?" Ash asked her her leader. RZ checked all the monitors from around the league and quickly determined the cause of the alarm.

"The 49ers Rusher, Pickaxe has declared an emergency, you are all the report to San Francisco to assist." he ordered the Guardians, to which they all nodded at the order they had been given.

"Enter the Rush Zone!" they all shouted at once and their civilian attire was once again replaced by their Guardian armor, and they quickly ran to the portal that would take them to Levi's Stadium, and jumped into it, and where quickly on their way to San Francisco.

Once they had left, RZ began to ponder what the Guardians and Grizzly had told him. Whatever that Bear was, it was not sent by the Anticorians or Wildcard, it something else, a new threat perhaps? RZ was terrified of the thought of some new threat rearing it's ugly head. In light of this new attack, he would have to consider something he had not thought of... choosing a seventh Guardian...

 **-Meanwhile-**

The Guardians had just arrived at Levi's Stadium and could quickly see the problem, it was under attack by a small army of Anticorian Blitzborgs.

"You think these guys would learn their lesson." Troy said as he ran up to a Blitzborg and blasted it with an energy blast, causing it to shrivel and turn back into a small green mechanical green ball.

"Anticorians are not the smartest species in the universe," Ish began as he dodged an incoming blast from a Blitzborg, "well at least not the three Anticorians who keep trying to steal the Megacores." he said as he threw an energy ball at a group of seven Anticorians, knocking them over and causing them to turn back into balls. "Troy, Tua, go to the Megacore vault, we'll take care of everything out here!" Ish ordered his friends, to which they nodded silently and ran inside the stadium, and towards the Megacore vault, and then they bumped into an Anticorian, Angkoro.

"Guardians, what a nice surprise." Angkoro said in a voice that indicated he was sneering under his gold and orange armor.

"Surprised to see you, Angkoro, thought you would have learned your lesson since your leader Sudden Death got blown up." Troy said as he and Tua took up a fighting stance opposite of the Anticorian.

"Sudden Death betrayed us, you have our gratitude for destroying that fool, but now we operate on our own terms, and our first order of business is destroying you!" Angkoro shouted a she fired an anti-gravity blast at the Guardians which knocked Troy back into a wall, but Tua due to his size had remained on his feet, and he fired an energy blast at the Anticorian before him. Angkoro jumped out of the way and fired another gravity blast at Tua, who jumped out of the way with surprising agility.

"No more fooling around, Super Strength!" Tua yelled as he activated on of his abilities, and he felt his strength increase from the temporary boost. He ran at Angkoro and with his increased strength picked up the armored Anticorian and slammed him through the wall behind him.

"Not so tough now are you?" Tua mocked as he stood over his seemingly defeated foe. Angkoro however suddenly twisted on the ground and as a result took the Guardians legs out from underneath him, resulting in him losing his balance and beginning to fall. Angkoro smiled under his mask and blasted the falling Guardian with a powerful anti-gravity blast, which sent the young Guardian back through the hole he had just thrown Angkoro through, where he landed in a crumpled heap.

"Looks like your not so tough now, are you, Guardian." Angkoro mocked his beaten enemy. Suddenly the ceiling above them gave way and Ash dropped through and stood in front of Angkoro.

"Super Stomp!" she shouted as she jumped in the air and then brought her right foot into the ground which made the earth shake and created a huge shockwave that sent Angkoro flying into the air, but the villain used his anti-gravity ability to levitate himself in mid-air.

"That the best you got.?" Angkoro mocked the young female Guardian.

"Not even close." Ash said as she fired energy blast after energy blast at her levitating enemy, however he simply floated out of the way of every energy blast.

"Your going to have to do better than that." he mocked his female adversary. Suddenly, Ish, Marty and Ricky dropped through the hole in the ceiling and took up a fighting stance next to the female Guardian.

"Your Blitzborgs are scrap metal, Angkoro, you are not getting this Megacore." Ish said confidently as all the remaining Guardians began to fire energy blasts all at once, their aim was true as they blasts hit Angkoro in his armored chest which knocked him out of the air and into a kneeling position.

"You've lost, Angkoro," Ish said as he slowly approached the injured Anticorian. But surprisingly the Anticorian began to laugh.

"Um, why's he laughing?" Marty said nervously as he began to look around at his soundings, trying to notice anything the wounded Anticorian might try and pull off.

"Do you really think I came here with only Blitzborgs?" Angkoro asked in mocking tone. Suddenly Ish and the rest of the standing Guardians figured out what Angkoro meant by that.

"Ash, Ricky, get to the vault now!" Ish ordered his two best friends, to which they responded by running at full speed to the Megacore vault, while Ish and Marty stood guard over Angkoro.

Arriving at the 49ers Megacore Vault they saw the door to the vault had been blasted open and was now laying there as a twisted smoking piece of twisted metal. They ran inside the vault and saw the brutish blue and Gold armored Anticorian, Zich standing there holding a defeated Rusher in his right hand, and the 49ers Megacore in his left hand.

"Drop the Rusher, and the Megacore!" Ash shouted as she and Ricky took up a fighting stance and eyed the Anticorian. Zich let out a grunt and threw the defeated Rusher at the two Guardians who stood before him. Ricky jumped into the air and caught the injured Rusher and gently put him on the ground behind them. The two Guardians where about to attack Zich in an attempt to take back the 49ers Megacore however he vanished in a blast of orange light.

"Dang, we lost him." Ricky shouted in confusion. Suddenly there was shouting down the hall where they had just come from, and they heard a small explosion. Running back down the hall they saw their friends lying on the ground in pain, and Angkoro had simply just vanished.

Ash decided she needed to inform RZ about what just happened, so she raised her NFL-R to her armored mouth and began speaking, "RZ, Ricky and I are the only ones left, everyone else is injured, and it gets worse... they got the 49ers Megacore," she informed her leader over the radio.

"It's alight Guardian, I will begin looking for a way to find the missing Megacore, but right now return to the HOK so everyone can recover." RZ instructed Ash over the radio before he ceased communications. Ash and Ricky opened a portal back to the Hall of Knowledge and helped their injured friends through the portal.

 **-Meanwhile-**

At an abandoned factory in Green Bay ,Wisconsin, the two Anticorians where celebrating their victory, for they had just easily obtained a Megacore, and where currently waiting for the return of their female Anticorian, Stellaria.

"I wonder what's taking her so long, with this supposed surprise she promised us." Angkoro pondered as the two of them waited for her return. Suddenly an orange light flashed and the gold and green armored female Anticorian stood before them.

"Brought you something," she said as she pulled out something from behind her back, it was a glowing green metal football, and it had a giant letter G in both sides of it.

"Ah, the Green Bay Packers Megacore." Angkoro said as she handed the Megacore to Zich who walked up to a pair of boxes that where left in the Warehouse and put them both inside a glowing green force field.

"According to Zich that field will stop the Guardians from tracking down the Megacores energy signature, I say today was a success," Angkoro said in a delighted tone, which drew a sigh from Stellaria.

"We only have two Megacores, there are thirty left, let's not celebrate until we have all of them." she lectured her two colleagues, to which they responded by nodding their heads silently. However unknown to the three Anticorians, while the Guardians couldn't track the Megacores, something else could...

 **-Meanwhile-**

Back beneath the construction yard the trace was almost complete. The being sat there as it observed a giant monitor in front of it, where the trace was taking place. It had been watching the battle in San Francisco by hacking into the security camera, and it felt anger upon seeing Anticorians, especially Angkoro and Zich, it had bad memories of those two. Suddenly the trace got a positive lock on the Megacore energy, and two red dot's starting blinking.

The being let out a mechanical sigh, and wirelessly connected with two of the thirty two pods, resulting in one lighting up red and gold, and the other green and white, and then they opened with a hiss to reveal two large hunched bulking forms.

The first ones eyes lit up white and it stood up, this one had a metal beard and a construction workers hat on it's metal head, but the most dangerous feature came in the form of the rather large and lethal looking pickaxe attached to it's back.

The second one now activated and stood up at attention, it's face was blank, it looked like regular robot, however it's size was intimidating. The being looked back at the monitor where the two dots where still blinking red. The location was in some place called, Green Bay ,Wisconsin. The two metal monsters started walking to a shuttle that would transport them to this city, the being controlling them had one goal in mind, destroy the Megacores, and kill the Anticorian Scum.

 **So the Anticorians stole two Megacores, what will happen, well you got to wait till next time my good friends. Also, Angkoro, Zich and Stellaria are villains from the official show**


	5. Chapter 5

"I feel like crap." Ish moaned form his position on a hard light bed that was in the Hall of Knowledge, where he lay alongside three of his Guardian friends, Marty, Tua and Troy.

"Your not the only one," Marty said with a moan as he laid a hand on his ribs, but withdrew it with a hiss upon feeling intense pain upon touching his ribs.

"Guy's you shouldn't be talking, just try and relax." Ash said as she and Ricky stood over their injured friends. They all nodded silently and ceased in talking, Ash then turned her attention to RZ, who had been silent since they returned to the HOK.

"Something wrong, RZ?" Ash asked her leader, which caused his head to turn and look at her,

"I'm sorry, I've just been busy trying to figure out who, or what this new threat is, and how we are to deal with it, I have one solution, and I think it's time I put it into effect." he said, which got every Guardians attention.

"Do tell." Ash said simply, which earned head nods from all the other Guardians.

"I did not think it was necessary, but in light of this new threat, I think it's time that I choose a...seventh Guardian." he said, which surprised them all, for RZ had not considered adding another Guardian since Ricky had been chosen as the sixth and presumably last Guardian.

"A seventh Guardian, are you sure, RZ , for we work as a tight nit unit, I'm not sure if a rookie can cut it against this new threat." Ash asked her leader, which caused him to smile and laugh slightly.

"I understand that, but I also understand the importance to Protect the Megacores and the Rushers from this new threat, so we have no choice but to add a seventh Guardian." RZ said in a calm tone as he addressed all his Guardians. There was silence for a few seconds as they pondered what they had just been informed, but they quickly got over their shock and realized what RZ told them was true.

"Looks like we're getting a seventh Guardian," Ash said to her fellow Guardians, which earned head nods of approval, "who do you got in mind, RZ?" Ash asked her leader.

"I will tell you that in time, but right now we got bigger problems to deal with," RZ began which got the whole teams attention, "While we where preoccupied in San Francisco, Stellaria stole the Packers Megacore." RZ informed his Guardians, which got gasps of surprise from them.

"Rest assured I'm doing everything I can to locate the two missing Megacores, but it might take some time." RZ said sadly as he continued to try and locate the missing Megacores.

"Let's just hope the communities don't suffer to much until we are able to return them." Ash mumbled under her breath as she thought about what happens when you remove a Megacore from it's community.

The Megacores where specially created vessels that protected and channel the essence of every team. They held all the tradition, all the integrity, and all the energy every team in the NFL has ever known. They also channeled all the good of the community that represents each team. If a Megacore was removed, or fell into the wrong hands, that same energy could be used as a lethal weapon, and the team, and the communities would suffer.

Suddenly two red dot's started blinking on a holographic map, which brought the red haired female Guardian out of thought.

"We have a location on the Megacores, they are in an abandoned factory in Green Bay, I cannot send you directly there, Ash, and Ricky take the passage to Green Bay, then use your flight app to go the rest of the way, I will continue to monitor and update you on the situation."

"Got it RZ," Ash nodded as she and Ricky activated their Guardian armor and stepped through the portal that would take them to Green Bay. However unknown to them something more dangerous than the Anticorians would be waiting for them.

 **-Meanwhile-**

"This trap is full proof," Angkoro boasted s he held the 49ers Megacore in his armored hand. "Us taking them out of the protective force field simply to lure in the last two remaining Guardians is a stroke of genius." he said in a confident tone as the three Anticorians prepared to fight against the two remaining Guardians. Suddenly the roof above them exploded and in dropped two beings, however they where not the Guardians...

"It's not possible..." Angkoro said as the two giant robotic beings charged at the three Anticorians.

 **-Meanwhile-**

Ash and Ricky where currently airborne and where flying towards the warehouse where the Megacores had been located.

"This is probably a trap, but we got no choice but to go in there to retrieve the Megacores." Ash said which caused the Mexican-American Guardian to nod his head grimly. They quickly arrived outside the warehouse, but upon arriving the sound of battle could be hear on the inside.

"What the heck?" Ricky said as he and Ash carefully approached the warehouse. They quietly snuck inside and quickly saw why the sounds of combat where heard. The three Anticorians where under attack!

"Looks like someone beat us here." Ricky said as he and Ash simply stood there and watched the battle between the three Anticorians and to mechanical behemoths.

"I don't know who's side to take." Ash said as the two Guardians continued to watch the battle. Suddenly Angkoro noticed them.

"I'll make it easy for you, Guardians." he said with a snarl as he and the other two Anticorians teleported away in a blast of orange light. Leaving the two Guardians alone with the two giant metal monsters. The bests suddenly roared upon realizing that their targets had gotten away, suddenly they spotted the Guardians and charged at them.

"Looks like we suddenly became targets!" Ash yelled as eh back flipped away to give herself some breathing room, meanwhile Ricky activated his NFL-R's flight app and got airborne as he wings materialized from his armor, allowing him to get a birds eye view of his opponent. Looking around he spotted the Megacores lying inside a crate with the speed of an Eagle he flew down and quickly scooped up the Megacores in his arms.

"Ash, I got the Megacores!" Ricky yelled to his female friend as he continued to look over the battlefield, when she didn't reply he began to worry. However his worry quickly disappeared when he saw her back flip away from an attack.

"Let's get out of here!" she shouted back at her friend as she now activated her flight app and got airborne. The two quickly flew away from their opponents, and left them in the dust, leaving the two mechanical beasts to narrow their eyes in anger, and leave the being controlling them to wonder, how best to kill these so called, Guardians...


	6. Chapter 6

"Here you go, Pack , Pick Ax." Ash said as she handed the Rushers their respective Megacores.

"Thank, Ash, I'll take this back to where it belongs." Pick Ax said as he walked over to the 49ers portal and walked through it.

"Same here, this will be much safer at the Stadiums vault." Pack said as he went through the Packers portal, leaving the room with only RZ and his Guardians in it.

"I'm glad we where able to return the Megacores so quickly." Ash said in a confident tone as Ricky gave her a fist bump.

"Yea, but I'm a little troubled by why we saw at the warehouse." Ricky said which caused the red headed Guardians smile to drop instantly.

"Ricky is right, what happened there is most disturbing. A similar type of mechanical beast, similar to the one you encountered in Chicago also happened to show up at the warehouse, this is not good." RZ said as he continued to analyze security footage from the warehouse. "These beings did not seem to be interested in the Megacores, they went there solely for the Anticorians." RZ said as he closed down the security footage.

"What makes you say that, RZ?" Ish asked from his laying position on his hard light bed, Ish and the other several Guardians where still recovering from the beat down suffered by Angkoro.

"I've analyzed the tape multiple times, and I've become aware to the fact that when those two giants arrived, they ignored the cores, and instead attacked the Anticorians, they showed little to no interest with the Megacores." RZ lectured to the six Guardians.

"If they don't want the Megacores, then what's their game?" Troy asked form his sitting position on his hard light bed.

"Unknown at this time, but I suspect we will learn more as this new threat makes itself more and more visible." RZ said, which caused all the Guardians to nod their heads in approval.

"What's our next move, RZ?" Ash asked her leader, which caused his head to turn and look at her.

"For now we do nothing, it is late, I recommend you and Ricky head home for the night and get some rest, the others will be staying here for the night to make sure nothing comes from their injuries." RZ informed the two standing Guardians. They nodded and silently left the Hall of Knowledge, leaving the other four injured Guardians to simply lay down on their beds and get ready for the night.

* * *

 **-Meanwhile-**

Underneath the cold soil of the construction yard, the being who had dispatched the mechanical behemoths sat there watching a monitor that sat in front of the giant throne. Upon it's two mechanical beasts returning from their mission, the being that had been controlling them had hacked into this worlds internet, and was trying to find out more about these so called 'Guardians.' It had not taken long before it found the information that it desired.

The football teams, or the NFL's 32 teams each had an object known as a Megacore that held enormous power. Apparently Sudden Death had come to this world to steal that power, but had been destroyed by the first Guardian. The thought of Sudden Death being destroyed made the being smile, for it hated all Anticorians. Then however a new villain had emerged, a man wearing a purple, black and silver armor, similar to Guardian armor known as Wildcard.

Wildcard began a Crusade to steal all 32 Megacores, although the reason could not be found on the internet. His attacks led to the rise of five more Guardians, making six of them in total. They had battled Wild Card constantly, until one day Wild Card actually won, and managed to drain the energy of all 32 Megacores, and 33 cities. However after that he just seemingly vanished, and the Guardians where still around. What had happened to Wild Card, and why had he been defeated when victory seemed almost certain, the being wondered.

It seemed however that Sudden Death was not dead, had rebuilt himself, and resumed his attacks, and had now been joined by three more Anticorians, the being recognized them as the same ones from the attack on the warehouse. The Guardians had to now battle Sudden Death and his Anticorian idiots to defend their precious Megacores. The battle went on for several months until Sudden Death's minions disappeared and Sudden Death had once again been destroyed, hopefully for good the being thought.

Now just recently it seemed the Anticorians had resurfaced, and they where not once again attacking the Megacores. The being sighed as it finished reading all possible data. While it knew a lot about the Anticorians, it would still need more information on the Guardians if it was to get them out of the way. But the being knew it was only a matter of time...


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm so happy that everyone is enjoying this story, thank you all my good friends.**

The following morning all the Guardians could be found at the local bowling alley, just having a little bit of fun.

"I'm glad the four of you are alright, you guys took a beating." Ash whispered to her friends as she finished her frame.

"RZ said all we suffered is bruised ribs, we should be good to go in a few days." Ish said with a smile on his face, which earned head nods from the other three injured Guardians.

"You believe RZ is considering choosing another Guardian ?" Troy said in a whisper so that neighboring bowlers couldn't hear the conversation.

"It's hard to believe since the six of us have done such an amazing job, but I see his point in choosing another Guardian," Tua said as he held his chin in contemplation, "I honestly cant wait to see who he picks." he finished as he got up to bowl his frame, which consisted of a 7, and a spare.

"I just hope it's someone who can carry their own weight," Troy said as he rolled up his jacket sleeves, "I mean I welcome a new Guardian and all, but that means we have to train them, and that could be difficult." the Korean-American Guardian said as he folded his arms for extra emphasis. Loud voices caught the five young Guardians attention and they turned in their chairs to see the cause of the noise, and saw their fellow football players Carlos and Joseph approaching.

"What up, guys, and girl." Joseph said with a smile on his face as he spotted his friends, as he and Carlos walked over to them and took up two empty seats.

"Not much, just bowling a few games, what about you?" Ish asked as he eyes his two friends.

"Well I like to bowl, so here I am," Joseph said with a large smile as he stood up and made a bowling gesture that got everyone to laugh, "mind if Carlos and I join you?" he asked his teammates.

"Sure, let me just enter you into the computer." Ish said as he stood up and entered his two friends into the small computer that sat in front of them, allowing for Joseph and Carlos to enter into the bowling game.

"You guys ready for the upcoming season?" Troy asked conversationally.

"Yea I'm ready to sack some QB's, how 'bout you, Joseph?" Carlos asked the young defensive back.

"I'm ready for the season, I'm ready to prove myself after an injury sidelined me half of last season, I blame the Cyclones 6-10 record on my injury. If I hadn't got hurt, I feel I could have made a big difference in the way things turned out." Joseph said as he took a bowling ball of the rack and got into his bowling stance, and threw the ball down the ally with all his might, where it collided with the pins and knocked them all down, giving the young football player a strike.

"Yea, that's how you bowl!" Joseph said as he pounded a fist to his chest.

"Chill man, it's just bowling." Carlos said as he stood up and took a ball off the rack, before making his throws, a five and then sparing it on the second throw.

"Carlos, Coach Jones said you're from the Clippers across town, why did you leave them after such a good season?" Marty asked the young defensive lineman as he returned to his seat.

"Well we moved form across town to this part of town, the drive would have been to long for me to play for the Clippers, so I joined the Bulldogs. You guys won the championship last season, so that helped in my decision." Carlos said as he leaned back in his seat and put his hands behind his head.

"You made the right choice by joining us," Troy said in a boastful tone, "we're going to repeat as champions this season." the young Korean- American boasted as he got some of his jet black hair out of his eyes.

"Don't be so confident," a voice called out from behind them which made the group turn in their seats to see who had addressed them, "The Tigers are coming for you this season." Ricky said with a small laugh as he took the last remaining empty chair.

"What up Ricky?" Ish said as he stood up and gave his friend a high five.

"Just came here to bowl, and saw you guys, so I thought I'd join in, you mind if I join?" he asked his friends.

"I don't know man, this is Bulldog territory, I don't know if a Tiger is welcomed here." Carlos said in a tone that clearly indicated that he was joking, "I mean the Bulldogs beat the Tigers in the championship game last season." Carlos said with a small laugh.

"Well we beat them in the regular season." Ricky fired back in a joking tone of his own.

"Nobody remembers what happened in the regular season," Joseph said as he stood up and began flexing his legs, "people only remember what happened in the post season, and the Tigers got finished off in the championship game." he said in a challenging tone, which caught Ricky off guard.

"Come on man, it was only be seven points, by the way, who are you?" Ricky asked since he didn't recognize the young player in front of him.

"Joseph Sanders, the Bulldogs new staring Cornerback," Joseph said in a challenging tone as he offered a handshake to the young Mexican-American football player.

"Pleasure to meet you," Ricky began as he shook Joseph's hand, "I hope you're not to disappointed when we stomp you guys this season." Ricky said in a challenging tone of his own.

"I hope your not to disappointed when I intercept everything you throw to my side of the field. I'm going to make sure you have a very long day." Joseph shot back in his own challenging tone. Before Ricky could fire back the six Guardians NFL R's started to beep on their wrist, indicating an incoming message.

"Can you excuse us, we got to go." Ish said as he and his five Guardian allies stood up and walked away, leaving Carlos and Joseph just sitting there.

* * *

"Well that just happened." Carlos said as he and Joseph where now the only Bulldogs sitting at that lane.

"That was weird Joseph said as he stood up and flexed his right leg again.

"Hey man, I noticed you flexing your leg in practice a lot the other day, why do you do that, is that to stay limber?" Carlos asked his friend.

"No I hurt my leg last season, so I'm flex it when I start to feel pain." Joseph said simply as he took a seat next to Carlos.

"I heard you got hurt last season, what exactly happened?" Carlos asked his friend.

"Let me tell you about it..." Joseph said as he began telling the story of his injury.

* * *

The Cyclones where tied with the Vikings 0-0 , but there was ten seconds left exactly and the Vikings where in easy field goal range.

"Got this one in the bag, jerks." The Vikings team captain Bruno Boston bragged as he took the field and took up his position on the offensive line in order to protect his kicker.

"Alright let's do this!" Joseph yelled to his defense as he put his helmet on his sweat soaked head, as he and his fellow defensive teammates took the field. They all lined up in a position hoping that they could get through the line and somehow block the kick. Joseph leaned in close to the center and whispered six words, "Sanders got something special for you." he challenged as he stood back up and took his position.

As soon as the ball was hiked Sanders jumped over the line and blocked the kick, resulting in the ball bouncing backwards and just laying there on the turd. Sanders raced to the ball and scooped it up, and he started running as fast as he could towards the other teams end zone. As he got closer to it he looked behind him and saw Bruno closing in on him, preparing to make a dive tacked at his legs. Joseph decided in a split second decision to perform a juke in order to avoid his legs being taken out. He performed a perfect juke resulting in Bruno diving and missing him completely, Joseph a few seconds later found himself in the end zone. As he turned around to face his teammates he suddenly was tacked to the ground by his knee, but he heard and felt something pop in his knee, resulting in him going down like a sack of bricks, leaving him there just lying on the turf, screaming for the team doctor.

"Quit your whining, you still have you other knee." Bruno bragged with a nasty laugh as he punched the ground inches from Joseph face walked away.

* * *

"Dang man, that's a cheap shot if I ever heard of one." Carlos said as Joseph finished his story.

"Yea, that jerk badly hurt my knee, and the knocked me out for the rest of the season," Joseph began as he clenched a fist as he felt the anger surge through him, "I heard we might play the Vikings this season, if we do, it's payback time!" Joseph said as he pounded a fist into the table they where sitting at.

 **I hope you all really liked this chapter even though the focus was more on Joseph than the Guardians. Next chapter will focus more on the Guardians my good friends.**


	8. Chapter 8

"What's going on, RZ?" Ish asked his leader as he and his fellow friends all arrived at the Hall of Knowledge after being summoned.

"Guardians I'm sorry to pull you away from your activities, but I'm afraid this cannot wait," RZ said as the six Guardians all assembled around their leader, "today the New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, and Washington Redskins are inviting some local schools to visit their stadium for a tour, on the tour are the teams Megacore vault, with the increasing attacks by the Anticorians and this new unknown threat, I'm splitting you up in order to blend in with the school kids, and be there in case an attack is launched." RZ instructed his Guardians which earned head nods from them.

"Who's going where, RZ?" Ish asked his leader.

"Troy and Tua, you are to report to New Orleans," RZ told the two Guardians as they nodded and quickly ran over to the Portal that would take them to the stadium and stepped into it, "Ish and Ricky you are to report to Washington," RZ ordered them as they ran to the passage for the Redskins and stepped into it, "and lastly Ash and Marty you are to report to New England." RZ said as the last two remaining Guardians as they went over to the passage and stepped into it.

 **-New England-**

"I cant believe my luck." Ash whispered in an almost giddy tone.

"Why's that?" Marty whispered back as he and Ash walked along with the tour group that was currently walking through the halls of Gillet Stadium.

"I'm on guard duty for my favorite team." Ash said simply with a smile on her face as she removed a strand of red hair from her eyes.

Turning around a corner to their right the school group came face to face with the teams trophy case and inside it was the prize of every NFL season, the Vince Lombardi trophy, five of them to be exact since the Patriots had just won Super Bowl 51 a few months ago.

Suddenly their NFL R's began to beep on their wrist, indicating an incoming message. The two young Guardians snuck away from the group and quickly answered the incoming transmission.

"Guardians is everything alright?" the voice of RZ asked them over the radio.

"We're all clear here, RZ." Ash responded to the question. Just as they ended the call they could hear shouting from the tour group, fearing the worst Ash and Marty quickly ran out form behind the corner thy had hid behind and quickly identified the source of the shouting, and let out a sigh of relief, for the shouting was shouts of joy, for the Patriots Rusher Freedom had just arrived and was currently signing autographs and taking selfies with the kids. After a few minutes of the kids interacting with the Rusher they moved unto the next part of the tour, but upon seeing the two Guardians, Freedom stayed behind.

"Good to see you, Ash, Marty." Freedom said as he gave the two Guardians fist bumps.

"Good to see you, Freedom," Ash said before pausing to take a breath, "With the tour of the stadium, RZ sent us here as undercover security, just in case somebody tried something," Ash explained to the Rusher, which earned a head nod from him.

"Yea, RZ told me two Guardians would be arriving, good to see I'm among a Patriots fan." Freedom said with a laugh, which earned one from the red headed guardian. The three of them quickly caught up with the tour group and quickly saw that they where at the most dangerous section of the tour, the teams Megacore vault.

"In front of us is the New England Patriots Megacore vault, and the Patriots Rusher has agreed to allow us a rare entry into the vault," the tour leader said as Freedom went up to the vault and pressed a hidden button, and the solid steel door slowly opened, allowing the kids and tour guide entry into the vault, where there, sitting on a pedestal covered by a blue force field was the New England Patriots Meagacore.

Just sitting there, Ash had to acknowledge that is almost looked peaceful, that this almost normal looking football held such power... well as peaceful as a dark blue metal football glowing with a white aura could be.

Freedom walked up to the Megacore and deactivated the force field and took it off it's pedestal and into his strong hands, carrying it like you would a young child.

"Can I touch it?" one of the younger kids asked. Freedom smiled and put the Megacore within arms reach and allowed the small child to touch the Megacore, which brought a smile to her young face. Suddenly the floor above them began to shake which earned a confused look from all of them. Then the floor above them gave way and in dropped a very familiar looking female Anticorian.

"The Meagacore, give it to me!" Stellaria asked as she held out an armored hand and demanded the Rusher to give her the Megacore.

"Never," Freedom shouted as he tucked the Megacore into his left arm and took up a defensive stance. The tour group had gotten over their initial shock and where now quickly trying to flee out of the Megacore vault, but the Anticorian threw three mechanical balls on the ground in front of them and they quickly grew into horrendous Blitz Borgs, trapping the group between the borgs and the Anticorian.

"Should we fight back?" Marty whispered into Ash's ear.

"We cant, we cant risk exposing out identity to the world, and these kids would definitely tell everyone they know." Ash said as she maintained a look of calm upon her face as she tried to use her brains and find a way out of this problem, true the Anticorians knew who they where already, but these kids did not, and the last thing Ash wanted was these young kids to know who the Guardians of the NFL truly where. They would have to just ride it out here and hope that something happened, but unknown to Ash, something would happen, but it wouldn't be something good.

 **To be continued...**


	9. Chapter 9

"This is breaking News out of New England, we are receiving details about a hostage situation at Gillette Stadium," the female news anchor said into her camera before pausing to take a breath, "a tour consisting of children is being held hostage by the Anticorian criminal known as Stellaria," she paused again as a picture of the female Anticorian appeared on screen, "she is holding the group in the teams Megacore vault and is threatening to harm the children if local police or any Guardians show up, we will continue to monitor the situation as events unfold, this is Kate Charming, Fox News," Kate said as the news broadcast ended.

* * *

Underneath the construction yard the being sat there watching the news report, and a smile crept across it's mechanical face, for one of it's most hated enemies had just revealed her location, and she would quickly be dealt with, and the best part was that there would be no Guardians there to interfere with business, which meant that after Stellaria was killed, it could easily kill the Rusher, as well as destroying the Megacore. The being wirelessly connected to one of the thirty two pods and it began to glow blue and red. The door to the pod opened to reveal a large hunched bulky form. It's eyes lit up white as it stood up from it's hunched position. It had an Army helmet on it's head, but the Star in the center was crossed out.

The being quickly made it's way to the pod that would take it New England, for it had business to take care of, and this time, no Guardian would interfere...

* * *

"I'm going to say this one more time, Rusher," Stellaria hissed as he held out an armored hand, "give me the Megacore, and I will let the children go." Stellaria said as she pointed to the frightened children that where being held hostage.

"You wont keep your word," Freedom shot back as he continued to tuck the Megacore, "as soon as I give you the Megacore for all I know you'll try and kill us all," Freedom snarled as he shot the insult at Stellaria. Stellaria sighed before she replied.

"Very well then, it seems I will have to use other measures to persuade you..." Stellaria said as she snapped her fingers and one of the Blitz Borgs reached down and snagged a small child and hung her upside down by her feet. "If you don't give me the Megacore I will execute a hostage every fifteen minutes, starting with this young girl!" Stellaria snarled as the girl screamed from her hanging position. Just as freedom was about to answer a mechanical roar echoed through the Megacore vault. Suddenly a large mechanical behemoth walked around the corner and spotted the Blitz Borgs and Stellaria.

"Destroy it!" Stellaria shouted as she pointed at the mechanical beast. Two of her Blitz Borgs ran forward and attempted to shoot it with energy blasts. However the blasts just bounced of it's armored body and the energy blasts ended up hitting the Borgs and resulted in them shriveling up and turning back into little green mechanical balls. The being eyed the last Borg holding a small child and ran forward and grabbed the Borg by it's throat and hoisted it into the air with one powerful mechanical hand, the Borg immediately dropped the child without any care as it tried to free itself. The child screamed as she fell through the air, however Ash ran up to her and caught her and safely put her on the ground.

"Everyone run for it while the Borgs are distracted!" Ash ordered the other kids and the tour guide as they all quickly ran out of the vault and headed towards safety, once all of them where safely out of sight Ash and Marty activated their NFL R's and shouted "Enter the Rush Zone!" and their civilian attire was replaced by their Guardian armor as they took up a fighting stance next to Freedom.

What happened next surprised the Rusher and Guardians as the mechanical behemoth punched the Borg so hard that it turned back into a ball, leaving Stellaria to look stunned underneath her face plate at what once had been a dream scenario, now it had turned into a nightmare.

"Stellaria, your outnumbered, give it up." Ash ordered as she held up her guard. Before Stellaria could reply the beast ran forward and grabbed her by the waist, resulting in the female Anticorian trying to free herself, but it's grip was like a vice around her waist, as it reared back a mechanical fist and punched her so hard that it knocked off her faceplate, raveling her face, and her yellow eyes where filled with fear.

"You got to help me Guardians!" Stellaria shouted as the grip around her waist was increasing by the second, and it was obvious to her that without the Guardians help she would be most likely killed in minutes.

"As much as I hate to say it, she's got a point." Marty whispered to Ash, which caused his leader to begrudgingly nod her head in agreement.

"Put her down!" Ash shouted at the mechanical monster. It just ignored the command and continued to squeeze the life out of Stellaria. Marty used his armors ability to teleport to appear in the bests face, where he started punching it. The best roared and tried to punch him with its free hand, but due to his phase ability the attack phased right through him.

"Going to have to try harder than that!" Marty joked as he continued tp punch away at it's face. Finally the beast had enough as it threw Stellaria against the wall with all its might, resulting in her groaning in pain as she collied with the solid concrete wall.

"We helped you Stellaria, now help us defeat... whatever this is," Ash ordered the injured Anticorian while Marty continued to distract it.

Stellaria laughed in response, "Like I'd help a guardian, I just needed you to free me so I could do this," Stellaria said as she pressed a button on her armored wrist and teleported away in a flash of orange light.

"Thanks for nothing!" Ash shouted in anger at the spot where the Anticorian once sat. Suddenly she heard a scream and she turned around and saw that Marty had been flung against the wall and was now laying in a crumpled heap.

"Super Stomp!" Ash shouted as she jumped in the air and brought her foot down with all her might and her armors ability created a shockwave that ripped the ground apart in the direction of her enemy, however it just stood there like it didn't even feel it. Ash growled in annoyance and shot energy blast after energy blast from her closed fists but they all just bounced off her enemies armored chest.

With surprising speed her enemy rushed forward and grabbed Ash by her waist.

"Let me go!" Ash shouted as she tried to free herself but with no luck. The monster than brought the struggling female Guardian up to it's eyes and began turning her in her hand like it was studying her, and that really grossed her out.

"You want to study me, than take this!" Ash screamed as she fired an energy blast directly into it's purple eyes, actually cracking one a bit. The beast roared in apparent pain and threw Ash against the wall but due to her angle her foot bent up against her leg and she felt and heard something crack and she screamed in pain and grabbed her foot.

The being took a few steps towards her to finish her off but then suddenly a blue portal opened up above it and the other Guardians who had been at other stadiums arrived and took up defensive stances. It narrowed it's damaged eyes and decided while it wanted to kill this female Guardian, it would need to be at full strength for that, so it threw a smoke pulled to the ground and disappeared behind a cloud of thick inky smoke. By the time the smoke had disappeared the being was long gone.

Ish quickly spotted his injured teammates and sent Troy and Tua to check on Marty while he and RIcky went over to Ash,

"Ash you alright," Ish said as he offered his female friend a hand, which she took, and put her arm around her friends shoulders and allowed them to give her support.

"I think my ankle is busted," Ash said as she winced in pain, "all that matters though is Stellaria, and whatever that was didn't get the Megacore or the Rusher." Ash said as she continued to wince in pain over her busted ankle. Troy, Tua and Marty walked over to the other three Guardians.

"You alright, Marty?" Ish asked the Jewish Blonde.

"I'll manage, let's just her back to the HOK so RZ can X-ray her ankle." Marty said as the portal back to the Hall Of Knowledge opened and allowed the Guardians entry back to their headquarters, and they hoped Ash's injuries wouldn't be to severe...

 **So Ash has been injured, how bad is the injury, well you'll have to wait till next time to find out, which hopefully wont be to long my good friends.**


	10. Chapter 10

"I have finished the X-Ray on your ankle Ash," RZ informed the female Guardian as she lay their on a hard light bed with her foot in a cast, "your ankle is not broken, but it is severely sprained, I'm sidelining you from active duty for at least a week or two until your ankle is healed." RZ said which earned a sigh from Ash.

"Does that mean I cant play football, 'cause our season opener is next week." Ash explained to her leader.

"I'm sorry but I doubt you'll be able to play until your ankle is fully healed, all I advise is for you to sit on the sidelines and get some rest." RZ informed her with a sad smile. Ish then walked over to her and gave his friend a pat on the shoulder.

"Don't worry Ash, we'll all be here for you." he said with a smile which earned one from the female Guardian. Ish handed her a pair of crutches and gave them to Ash, which allowed her to stand up.

"My mom is driving us to football practice, all you got to tell Coach Jones is how you sprained your ankle." Ish informed Ash as the Guardians walked out the secret entrance of the HOK and into the Hall of Fame where Ish's mom, Sasha was waiting for them.

 **-Meanwhile-**

Back beneath the construction yard the being who had sent the mechanical behemoth sat looking at a recording of the last battle, for it had quickly repaired it's borgs eyes and was now looking over the footage from that battle.

For when it had captured the one Guardian in it's hand it had began to look the Guardian over for a point of weakness, and when the Guardian had been flung against the wall the Guardian had shrieked in pain, and that made the being watching smile. It looked over the footage of where the Guardian had been flung against the wall and noticed how it's foot had been bent against it's leg and that apparently caused a lot of pain, for it seemed this species called Humans where not as tough as the being watching, for it had replaced every part of living flesh with unforgiving pistons and wires.

It also noticed how the Guardian had let out a feminine scream, so it assumed that this Guardian in question was a female, plus her armor was differently designed as opposed to her presumed male counterpart. It had learned a lot about Human anatomy since it's first battle with the Guardians, and it now knew how to inflict much pain, and it would only be a matter of time until it could enact that pain.

 **-Meanwhile-**

"Sorry to hear about your injury, Ash," Coach Jones said as he rubbed his chin in contemplation, "Lucky for us we just brought on a backup kicker today, but rest assured your still the number one kicker, he'll just take over until your ankle is healed." Coach Jones said to his starting kicker.

"Who's my backup?" she asked upon hearing they had brought on board a new kicker. In response Coach Jones pointed over to the field where Ash saw a kicker wearing a number 4 jersey was kicking field goals.

"That's Adam Pollard, he was brought in from the Hawks across town, he's a really good kicker and his longest kick rivals yours Ash." Jones said as he patted his kicker on the shoulder. Ash nodded and used her crutches to walk over to Adam, while the rest of the team was working out by throwing passes back and forth. Suddenly Coach Jones blew his whistle and the whole team huddled up.

"Everyone into the film room." he instructed which earned head nods from the whole team and they all followed him off the field and into the teams film room.

"Alright let's focus on the task at hand, the Vikings," Jones said as he pressed a button on the projector and it showed the Vikings logo, it looked exactly like the Minnesota Vikings logo, "There are a few players we got to watch out for, number one is quarterback Jamar Francis number 11," Jones said as he pulled up some of Francis's highlights which showed him running with the ball and throwing bullets in between two or three defenders. "Another player we have to watch out for is their team captain Bruno Boston," Jones said as he pressed another button and it showed a player wearing number 83.

"I know Boston well Coach, mind if I explain?" Joseph perked up from his sitting position.

"Be my guest." Jones aid with a smile on his face.

"Alright Boston is a two way player, he plays Tight End and Linebacker, whiles he's good at both those positions, there's something else he's good at, and that's cheap shots," Joseph said before pausing to take a breath, "As far as I'm concerned he's written the book on cheap shots, every week he writes another chapter." Joseph said angrily as he clenched a fist as he remembered what Bruno did to his knee last season.

"Thanks for the warning," Coach Jones said sincerely as he tipped his hat to Joseph, "To beat the Vikings, we got to fire back on every play." Jones said as he turned the projector off and held his hand in the middle, which all his players followed suit, "Bulldogs on three, bulldogs on three, one, two, three, Bulldogs!" they all shouted as they left the film room and took the field.

 **-Later-**

"That was the most fun I've ever had at practice." Joseph said as he and Carlos walked away from the field.

"I tell you what, I think we're going to have a great season." Carlos said as he lightly punched Joseph in the shoulder. Suddenly a rather tall African American woman approached Carlos and Joseph.

"Hi I'm Sash, Ish's mom." Sasha said as Ish walked up behind her.

"Nice to meet you," Joseph said as he offered his hand and shook her hand, while Carlos took off his hat out of respect.

"Ish tells me you two are great football players," Sasha said with a slight laugh.

"I'm to humble to brag," Joseph said with a small laugh which earned one from Carlos.

"Well the greatest football players end up in the Hall of Fame, where I happen to work, would you two like to go?" she asked sincerely.

"Would I ever!" Joseph said as he pulled out his cell phone and called to ask permission from his mom.

"I'm down for that." Carlos said simply as he gave Ish a fist bump.

Joseph got off the phone and said, "Can we go now?" he asked Ish's mother.

"Sure, come on to my car." Sasha said as she led the three young football players to her car and soon they where on their way to the Hall of Fame.

Unknown to everyone in the car was that RZ would be choosing a seventh Guardian, and one of them was in tow right now, which was the main reason he had sent Sasha to pick up Joseph and Carlos, for one of them would become the seventh Guardian, and he had already made up his mind as to who it would be...

 **So next chapter the seventh Guardian will be chosen, who will it be? Joseph Sanders or Carlos Nixon, please let me know who you think it will be and why.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Alright my loyal friends I want to thank everyone for their support. Special thanks goes to Purple Rose of Darkness for telling me the correct name of Ish's mother. I apologize for that mistake and will fix it this chapter.**

"This is so cool!" Joseph said as Sandra showed him and Carlos around the Hall of Fame.

"I'm glad you thin so," Sandra said as she walked behind them and let them both take it all in, "what are your favorite teams?" she asked them.

"I'm an Eagles fan." Joseph said as he opened his jacked and reveled he was wearing in Eagles t-shirt.

"What about you, Carlos?" she asked Joseph's friend.

"Cincinnati Bengals." Carlos aid proudly.

"How would you like to see the Paul Brown Bust?" she asked Carlos.

"I'd love to." Carlos responded as he followed Sandra, Joseph was about to follow suit until he felt someone poke him on the back. He turned around and saw Ish standing there.

"While my mom is showing Carlos the Bust for Paul Brown I'd like to show you my favorite exhibit." Ish said with a big smile on his face.

"Lead the way." Joseph said as he followed Ish to another section of the Hall of Fame, and Ish lead him to a seemingly dead end hallway.

"I think you took a wrong turn Ish." Joseph said in a confused tone.

"No, we are in th right spot." Ish said as he raised his NFL R and pointed it at the mirror in front of him and a small beam of light came out of it and into the mirror, which allowed Ish to step into the mirror, and through the hidden door that resided behind it, Ish turned around and saw Joseph with a stunned look on his face.

"How in the heck did you just do that?" Joseph asked his QB.

"Why don't you see for yourself." Ish said as he offered Joseph his hand ans Joseph took it, and allowed Ish to pull him through the mirror and into the other side.

"OK, that was weird." Joseph said in an almost panicking tone, which Ish heard.

"Relax bro, happens to everyone the first time they go through that door." Ish said as he reassured his defensive back. Joseph nodded and followed Ish down the short hallway and into a more open room. When thy reached the room Joseph's mouth dropped open. In the middle of the room on top of a weird structure was a blue floating head.

"What was in my Gatorade?" Joseph asked as he dropped to one knee out of shock.

"I assure you what your seeing is true," RZ said to Joseph as Ish helped the young defensive back, back to a standing position.

"No offense, but who and what are you?" Joseph said in an almost scared tone.

"I am RZ 6.0," RZ answered Joseph's question, "I am an artificial intelligence with the memories of one Dr. Zimmer." RZ explained to Joseph, "I'm also the leader of the Guardians of the NFL." RZ said which made Joseph's jaw drop again.

"You're the leader of the Guardians?" he asked RZ.

"Yes I am, which is why I had Sandra and Ish bring you here," RZ said as he figured Joseph was trying to figure out why he was here, "As you know there are six Guardians, but the time has come to choose a seventh Guardian, Joseph Sanders, you have been chosen to be the seventh Guardian." RZ said which made Joseph once again drop to his knees which earned a laugh from Ish.

"I think he took it well." Ish said with a laugh, that was silenced upon RZ giving him a stern smile.

"Why me?" Joseph said from his kneeling position.

"Every Guardian is chosen for a different reason, it is up to you to discover that reason," RZ said simply as Ish helped Joseph into a standing position, "It is time for you to join our ranks, and become the seventh Guardian." RZ said as Ish took something out of his pocket and handed it to Joseph, who began to turn it over in his hand and analyze it.

"That is your NFL R," RZ explained to the rookie Guardian, "I have already calibrated it to your voice Joseph, put if on your wrist and enter th rush zone." RZ instructed the rookie. Joseph did what he was told and strapped his NFL R unto his left wrist.

"OK, what do I do now." he asked RZ. RZ was about to answer but Ish took over for him.

"Shout, Enter the Rush Zone!" Ish said with much enthusiasm.

"Enter the Rush Zone!" Joseph shouted as his civilian attire was replaced with his Guardian armor, while it had the same design as Ish's Joseph had a jet back visor, and his armor was black with a red outline.

"Oh, man this is awesome," Joseph said, all shock now disappeared, "how do I do anything though?" he asked RZ and Ish.

"You will have plenty of time to practice, in both the simulator, and against your fellow Guardians." RZ informed his rookie. Before Joseph could ask anymore questions an alarm started to blare inside the Hall of Knowledge, and RZ was given a situation report.

"What's up, RZ?" Ish asked his leader.

"There has been Blitzborg activity detected near the outskirts of the Safe Zone." RZ informed his leading Guardian.

"What's the Safe Zone?" Joseph asked his newly found leader.

"The Safe Zone is what protects the city of Canton, it's an invisible force field made to repel Blitzbot and Blitzborg attacks, and currently Blitzborgs have been located near the outskirts." RZ informed Joseph.

"I'll get right to it," Ish said as he activated his own armor.

"The other Guardians are already on their way, Ish, you are to link up with them and scout the disturbance." RZ informed his senior Guardian. Ish nodded and quickly left the Hall of Knowledge.

"What about me?" Joseph asked RZ.

"You are to remain here at the Hall of Knowledge, you are not ready for a possible battle yet, you are to complete simulations before you go into battle." RZ informed Joseph, who just nodded his armored head in response.

"Joseph you need to know that your armor is not yet complete without your shield coin," RZ said as holographic image of a little coin appeared with the NFL crest on the front of it, "Without this coin your armor will have at most ten minutes of power." RZ informed Joseph.

"Thanks for the warning," Joseph said sincerely, "what do I do to earn my shield coin?" he asked RZ.

"That is for you to find out?" RZ replied curtly. Which earned a head nod from Joseph who stood there at attention.

"Where the simulation room?" Joseph asked his leader.

"Walk down the hall Ish brought you down and it's to your left." RZ said which earned a head nod from Joseph as he headed in that direction.

Unknown to RZ is that Joseph would be called into battle much sooner than RZ hoped...


	12. Chapter 12

**I want to apologize for taking so long to update this story, When Squirrel Girls stand alone story took off last year, I wanted to write that more than anything, but now I'm back with this, and I'll try and update more frequently.**

"So mind telling me what the problem was yesterday?" Joseph asked as he and Ish could currently be found in the locker room while the rest of the team was already on their way the field for their opening game against the Vikings.

"Nothing bad, basic surveillance blitz bots, we took 'em down in less than ten minutes." Ish said with a smile as he adjusted his white number 17 jersey, while Joseph didn't need to adjust his number 26 jersey.

"Wish I could have joined you guys, I was stuck in the simulation room while your of their kicking bot." Joseph said with a joking tone, and that made Ish laugh lightly.

"Trust me Joseph, RZ told me you aced the training simulations, so you could be called in at any time, but enough of that for now, let's beat the Vikings." Ish said as he picked up his helmet and walked out of the locker room, as Joseph grabbed his helmet and did the same, and soon they where in the tunnel that lead unto the field, where Coach Jones and his son Jackson where waiting for them.

"Alright Bulldogs, Joseph gave us the rundown on Vikings team cpatain Bruno Boston, but the real threat on offense is Quarterback Jamar Francis, he's a rising star in the league, and he's a dual threat QB, meaning he can ran and pass," Jones said as h paused to take a breath, "offense let's put six points on the board, defense, let's force some turnovers, do I make myself clear?" Jones asked with a smile.

"Yes sir!" the entire team said at once as they raced out of the tunnel to the thundering crowd in the bleachers and took their side on the field, as the Vikings thundered out of their tunnel, lead by Bruno Boston wearing his purple and black number 83 jersey, followed by Jamar's number 11 jersey.

"Joseph, Ish, Carlos and Ash, your captain today, head to the middle of the field, and Ish, you decide if we go on offense or defense." Jones said as he pulled out his play book and began looking at the Bulldogs game plan, as the team captain made their way to the fifty yard line and shook hands with the Vikings team captain, all but Joseph and Bruno who where glaring at each other from under their helmets visors.

"Alright Vikings, call it in the air." the referee said as he tossed the coin in the air.

"Tails." Bruno called out as the cone flipped and then landed on the field.

"It is heads, Bulldogs, you want to defer or receive the kickoff?" the ref asked Ish.

"We'll defer until the second half." Ish answered, to which the ref nodded and the team captains made their way back to their sidelines.

"I decided to go on defense first to see how good their offense is, we have a great offense, let's show them our doomsday defense, right Joseph?" Ish asked with a smile as Joseph gave him a fist bump in response, as Ash lead the special teams unto the field and shortly there after she kicked the ball end over end into the air, and the new season was underway, as the Vikings kickoff returner caught the ball and took a knee in the end zone, bringing the ball out to the 25.

"Let's get out there and stop 'em defense!" Joseph yelled as he, Carlos and Marty jogged unto the field and took their positions, as Bruno lead the Vikings unto the field, as the Vikings got into their huddle, ans shortly there after, broke the huddle and lined up.

"Blue nineteen, blue nineteen, set hut!" Jamar yelled as he took the snap from the shotgun and dropped back a few steps, and did a quick pump-fake to his left, and then fired a dart to his running back out of the backfield, only for Marty to get their quickly and tackle him after a four yard gain.

"Good tackle, Marty." Joseph said as he gave Marty a fist bump as the duo lined back up at their respective positions.

Jamar again took the snap and threw a short pass to Bruno, who caught the pass and tried to take off down the sideline, only to be met by Joseph who took him down at the knees, be it after he had passed the first down marker.

"Try and stop me!" Bruno snarled as he got up and headed back to the huddle.

"Try and stay away from me!" Joseph yelled back as Marty got in front of his teammate to stop Joseph from going after his rival.

A few seconds later Jamar handed off to his running back, only to have Carlos break though the line and tackle him for a loss of two.

"Good tackle." the back said as Carlos helped him to his feet.

"Just doing my job." Carlos said as he got back with his defense, as the Vikings where forced to punt two plays later, as Ish came unto the field with Tua, Troy, and Marty as well.

"Let's have some fun, handoff offside to Marty, ready, break." Ish said as his team lined up and a few seconds later Ish took the snap and handed off the Marty, who used his skinny frame to find a small hole and take it for a gain of seven, only to be tackled by the horse collar by Bruno, who slammed a fist into the ground as a yellow flag was thrown for the horse collar tackle.

"You kidding me ref, that was a clean tackle." Bruno argued with the referee.

"Hardly, that was an illegal tackle, and a fifteen yard penalty." the referee said sternly as the Bulldogs accepted the penalty, and the ball was moved forward an additional fifteen yards.

"We are taking a deep shot to Troy down the sideline, since Troy has the size advantage, it might be a dream match up." Ish said as he broke the huddle and the team lined up in the pistol formation as Ish took the snap, and lobbed one deep down the right sideline, where is landed in Troy's hands and a few seconds later he found himself dancing in the endzone.

"That's how you play football." Carlos said as he celebrated on the bench with the rest of his teammates.

* * *

The game was now in the late forth quarter and the Bulldogs held a commanding 31-17 lead, with five minutes left on the clock, and it was third and twenty five, and with this stop, the Bulldogs would start the season with a win.

"I'm blitzing here, Marty, cover my man." Joseph instructed in the defensive huddle, which earned a thumbs up from Marty.

"I've shut down my man all day, 'aint going to stop now." Marty joked as he and the defense headed back unto the field and took their positions, with Joseph disguising his blitz by lining up with his man, but as soon as the ball was snapped, Joseph took off towards Jamar and a few seconds later hit the QB who was looking to his left, resulting not only in a sack, but the ball coming loose, and Joseph falling on it and running it back all the way to the endzone for a defensive touchdown, making the score 38-17, essentially game over.

* * *

"Offense, way to go today, you put up 38 points in your first outing of the season, defense, five sacks and three turnovers, that's exactly what I want to see," Jones said as th whole team was smiling, "everyone enjoy the rest of your afternoon, and let's get ready for practice on Monday." Jones said as the team dispersed and met up with their respective families.

"Hey Joseph," Ish yelled as Joseph was walking back towards the locker room to gab his stuff, "the rest of the team is meeting up at the bowling alley, care to join?" Ish offered, to which Joseph responded by giving a thumbs up and a smile, for life was good today, but it would not stay good for long, as the young Guardians where about to find out the hardway...


	13. Chapter 13

"He's aced every situation we've thrown at him," Ish said as she stood before RZ in the Hall of Knowledge, "he's done almost as good as I did when I was first starting out, maybe we should call him into battle next time." Ish proposed to his leader.

"Ish, as much as I respect your opinion, this new threat is something we've never encountered before, Ash was injured, and unlike Wild Card or the Anticorians, this new entity seems to have no problem hurting us to accomplish it's goal, and I don't want to risk losing a guardian who has very little actual combat experience, so the answer is no until further notice." RZ said with a sigh, which earned one from Ish as well.

"Sometimes you have to learn on the fly." Ish said honestly, and RZ had to admit he had a fair point.

"I'll say," a new voice entered the room, and upon turning around Ish saw that it was Joseph who had just left the simulation room, "I'm getting tired of beating the same simulations over and over again, I'm ready for an actual fight." Joseph said with a confident smile.

"I admire your confidence, but I'll decide when it's time for you to go into the field." RZ said calmly yet sternly, which earned a head nod from the newest guardian.

Suddenly the Eagles passage gate opened and out walked the Eagles rusher, Swoop.

"Swoop, this is unexpected." RZ said in a surprised tone.

"Yea well, the team is getting ready for the kick off against Washington in a few weeks, but the team is going to be doing some community work in the city, and that includes inviting the occupants of a children's hospital to the stadium, and similar to what happened in New England, the Megacore vault is on the tour list, so we'd like some extra security." Swoop requested.

"I'll go," Joseph volunteered to Ish and RZ's non surprise, since they both knew Joseph was a die hard Eagles fan, "always wanted to visit Philly." Joseph said with a smile as she walked up to Swoop and gave him a fist bump.

"I'm sorry Joseph, but I cannot allow you to go there, you might have aced every simulation, but that does not prepare you for a real life combat scenario," RZ said as he paused for a moment before turning to look at Ish, "since Ash is still injured, I can only spare three guardians for this assignment, so pick wisely Ish." RZ instructed the leading guardian.

'You have an extra, you just don't know how to use him.' Joseph thought to himself as he held his inner feelings in check.

"Have Troy and Tua meet me in Philly, I'll brief them as soon as they arrive." Ish said as he activated his armor and walked into the passageway to Philly, where he would arrive at Lincoln Financial Field.

"What the heck am I supposed to do?" Joseph asked in ana annoyed tone, which did not go unnoticed by RZ, but he decided to ignore it.

"You should go home and get some rest, you've aced every simulation, you've earned the day off." RZ said with a smile, which earned a sigh from Joseph as he excited the HOK.

 **Sorry for such a short chapter, but I simply ran out of steam, next chapter though will have some action and will be longer.**


	14. Chapter 14

"Let's hope this visit goes smoother than the last time we protected a Megacore vault." Troy whispered to Ish as he, Tua and Ish followed behind the large number of kids from the hospital. The trio had arrived at Lincoln Financial Field for the Eagles community program, and currently they where on their way towards the teams Megacore vault.

"We had no problems with our patrol, it was Ash and Marty who got attacked, but we should have been able to prevent it." Ish said with a determined tone in his whisper, as he did not want the kids to overhear their conversation.

"Hey Ish, you think this new threat will show up?" Tua whispered to his leader.

"In my time as a Guardian, I've learned to never rule out anything, if it aint this new threat, it could be Wild Card or the Anticorians, so keep your guard up, we've got three kinds of enemies we have to be prepared for." Ish said wisely, which earned head nods from Tory and Tua.

"Up ahead is the main attraction of this tour," the Eagles Rusher Swoop said as the group rounded a corner and came face to face with what looked like a giant banks vault door, "the Philadelphia Eagles Meagacore." Swoop said with a slight bow as the vault door as if on command swung open, revealing the green and white Megacore of the Eagles, slightly levitating above a podium protected by a glowing blue force field.

"It's amazing." the Guardian trio heard a kid say in an almost giddy tone as other kids pulled out their cell-phones and began snapping pictures and selfies of themselves doing poses in front of the Megacore.

"Alright everyone, we are now going to visit the owners box, so please follow me." Swoop requested as they all began morning forward, all except for about ten children who seemed almost lost in a trance.

"Check it out," Tua said louder since the group had passed , "something doesn't seem right." he said, which got a head nod from his two friends.

"Hey, you're falling behind, you alright?" Ish asked as he and his friends walked up to the children and Ish put a hand on ones kids shoulder, only for two of the kids to spring around and tackle him to the ground, the remaining children did the same with super human strength and put glasses on their eyes, there was a flash of white light, and everything went black...

* * *

'I can't believe I'm not being used,' Joseph thought to himself with a sigh as he walked down the sidewalk towards his house, 'I ace every simulation, and yet it's to risky to go into battle, then why even choose me.' he thought as he kicked a pebble down the sidewalk.

"'Sup Joseph?" Joseph heard from behind him and he turned around and saw his fellow Guardian Marty walking up behind him.

"Just fuming over how RZ refuses to send me into battle." he answered the Jewish blonde Guardians question.

"RZ is just playing it safe, don't take it personalty." Marty tried to calm down his new friend.

"I know I probably shouldn't, but it doesn't make sense, you where sent into battle literally hours after you where chosen, and yet I've been training for days." Joseph fumed as he reached into his pocket to return a text message.

"How do you know I as sent into battle that quickly?" Marty asked his friend.

"I watched the archive footage as part of my training, and I know you managed to save the Steelers Megacore." Joseph said, and Marty had to admit he was impressed with Joseph's knowledge of his first battle.

"You will also recall that I lost the Browns Megacore during that battle, so all wasn't perfect." Marty said honestly.

"I know, I know, but the point remains, RZ sent you into battle so quickly, yet I'm stuck in the darn simulation room." Joseph said with a sigh, but before Marty could respond, their NFL-R's began to beep indicating an incoming message.

"Marty, Joseph, I've lost all communications with Ish and his team in Philadelphia, I fear they might be in trouble-." RZ never got to finish due to Joseph speaking up.

"Send us to Philly!" Joseph said as he and Marty exchanged a look.

"Marty, with Ricky engaged in Denver, I need you to go to Philly at once and check out what's going on." RZ informed his fifth Guardian.

"What about me?" Joseph asked his leader.

"Joseph, you are to remain as backup, but both of you will return to the HOK at once, where Marty will head to Philadelphia." RZ said as the transmission went dead.

* * *

"RZ, I've arrived at the stadium, so far nothing seems out of the ordinary." Marty said as he walked around in his orange, blue and white Guardian armor.

"Keep yours eyes open Guardian, we don't know what to expect." RZ informed Marty through his NFL-R, which earned a head nod from Marty as he rounded a corner and saw his three friends walking towards him in their Guardian armor.

"Hey guys, where you guys been, RZ has been trying to contact you?" Marty asked his friends, and his response was Ish firing an energy blast to his face and knocking Marty backwards.

"RZ, I'm under attack from... QB1 and the others!" Marty yelled to his leader using Ish's call sign as he began dodging and weaving around the energy blast, but Troy used his super speed to run to Marty's backside and blast his back with an energy blast, and Marty went down, and Tua picked hip up using his super size ability and pinned Marty's arms behind his back, and quickly removed his NFL-R before the fifth Guardian could use his teleportation power, and with a swift punch from Troy, Marty was out of the battle.

* * *

"That doesn't sound good." Joseph said as he was listening to Mary's communications.

"Indeed," RZ said as he tried to think of a plan, and with a sigh, he realized there was only one option, even though he didn't want to, "Joseph, the time had come for you to enter the battle," RZ said as Joseph had a serious looking expression on his face, "normally I would make you earn this as the others before you, but," RZ said as the Panthers rusher walked forward holding a small coin with the NFL shield on it and handed it to Joseph, "with this Shield coin your armor will be at full power, now head to Philadelphia at once, we are all counting on you Guardian." RZ said with a smile as Joseph plugged the shield coin into his NFL-R.

"Enter the Rush Zone!" Joseph shouted as his clothing was replaced with his black and red Guardian armor and he was looking out from behind his black tinted visor, as he ran to the passageway to Philly, and Guardian CB7 was on his way.

* * *

"RZ, I'm in the stadium, can you give me a lock on the others signals?" Joseph asked his leader.

"They are not to far from the Megacore vault, take a next left and then wing a right." RZ ordered as Joseph began running through the halls and upon winging the right he saw Marty tied and gagged with some kind of weird energy net.

"RZ, are you seeing this?" Joseph asked as he ran up to Marty and began trying to free him from the net.

"Affirmative, I'm analyzing the net as we speak, I'll be able to tell your shortly how to get through the net." RZ said as Marty suddenly jerked his head up, and Joseph knew what the meant, and quickly grabbed him and jumped to the side, as an energy blast struck the wall where they where just sitting, and upon turning around, he saw the three missing Guardians standing here in a combat stance.

'Well you wanted to get into the fight, be careful what you wish for Joseph.' the rookie Guardian though to himself as he took up his own fighting stance, he had been training against simulations of Blitz Bots and Borgs, but never his fellow Guardians, but he had one major advantage, he had watched the footage of all their battles, he knew their abilities, while he was a new Guardian, they had no idea what he could do, then again, he barley knew what he could do.

"'Sup boys, I don't know what's going on with you, bur why don't you just surrender and we can all go home?" Joseph asked in a hopeful tone, to which ths turned Guardians began cracking their knuckles.

"No," Joseph said as he took up a fighting stance, "alright then," Joseph said as he fired an energy blast at Ish's armored face, "Come on!" Joseph shouted as he rushed at the three Guardians in an attempt to tackle them to the ground in one attack, only to have Try run behind him and try to fire his own energy blast, but Joseph activated his defensive shield and deflected the attack towards Tua, who stumbled back as the energy blast to the stomach sent him flying backwards.

Ish charged up a precision power blast and took aim and fired towards where Joseph was about to be, but to his surprise Joseph front-flipped over the attack and landed a jump kick to Ish's jaw that sent the lead Guardian flying back and leaving a rather large hole in the wall.

However Troy was running circles around Joseph using his light speed ability, and due to the speed Joseph was lifted off the ground and Troy jumped into the air and smashed the rookie Guardian back to the concrete floor.

"My turn," Joseph snarled as his wings formed from his armor and he took flight, and with precision speed and timing Joseph used his speed to slam his foot into the ground, as a giant shockwave knocked Troy off his feet, "thank goodness for that experimental armor ability." Joseph said as he mentally thanked Ish's mom for programing the copycat ability into his armor, and even though Joseph's abilities where mostly experimental, they where holding their own against three much more experienced Guardians.

"Joseph, your armor will absorb the energy of the net, and you can use your enhanced strength to free Marty." RX informed the rookie out of nowhere.

"Now you tell me, I could have used that information and Marty's help back when the fight first began." Joseph said with a sigh, knowing he had maybe a minute tops until his three friends returned for more combat.

"It took until now for my calculations to finish, so please break the net." RZ said as the line went dead and Joseph bent down and quickly freed his friend from the energy net, and removed his gag.

"Thanks for the save." Marty thanked his friend.

"Don't mention it, let me guess, they took your NFL-R?" Joseph asked the more experienced Guardian.

"They took it alright, and speaking of them..." Marty said as Ish came flying back though the hole in the wall and tired to tackle Joseph, but Marty reached in and deactivated Ish's NFL-R with one move and Ish's armor vanished, revealing the young African-American Guardian, and the black sunglasses on his face where the most prominent feature on his face, and with a small precise energy blast, the glasses where shattered and Lay sparking on he floor, and Ish was standing there, with a confused look on his face.

"What the heck just happened?" he asked Marty in a confused tone.

"You attacked us both, dude." Marty said quickly.

"I don't remember any of this, I remember some kids where hanging near the vault, the three of us went up to them, and then nothing." Ish said as he tired to remember.

"I think this will answer the question," Joseph said as he squatted down next to the glasses and held them up to his black visor, "RZ, you seeing this?" he asked his leader.

"I got it Joseph, I'm analyzing them as we speak, but for now rescue the others, they are currently in the Megacore vault." RZ said as Ish reactivated his armor and handed Marty his NFL-R, who proceeded to activate his armor and the trio quickly ran to the vault, only to fine Tua holding the Megacore in his right hand, and he and Troy quickly ran past the trio and an up a pair of stairs that lead to the stadium's seating, but when the trio arrived he saw Troy and Tua without their Guardian armor sitting dangerously on a ledge.

"I don't like this one bit." Marty said as he took a step forward.

"Don't move, or you'll quickly see the effects of the laws of gravity on a human body." Troy said in a robotic tone as he leaned back just a little bit, almost falling of the multi story ledge, which froze the trio in place, as suddenly a surveillance Blitz Bot came flying out form another tunnel and Tua handed the Megacore tot he Blitz Bot who proceeded to put it inside it's metal body, but instead of flying away, a holographic image was projected from the bot's camera, revealing a purple and black armored man with purple glowing eyes, and with a capital W on his armored chest, a man even Joseph recognized instantly.

"Wildcard!" Joseph snarled.

"Hello Guardians, it's been awhile hasn't it," Wildcard began in his evil tone, "as you can see I have control of two of your friends, and even the addition of a seventh Guardian couldn't win this battle, as you can see, if you move, I will order them to jump over the edge, or you can surrender the Megacore to me, your choice." Wild Card said through the projection.

"How about option C!" an unknown voice called out and upon turning around Wild Card saw Swoop only in time for the bot to be tackled and shattered by the rusher, just as Ish and Marty quickly grabbed their friends and shattered their glasses, while Joseph grabbed the Megacore.

"That was close." Swoop said as Joseph handed him the Megacore.

"Where is the rest of the tour group?" Ish asked in a concerned tone.

"Hunkered down in a safe-room, that's why it took me so long to get here, but it seems I got here just in time." Swoop said with a smile.

"Indeed, we almost felt the laws of gravity." Tua said as he and Troy kept their distance from the ledge.

"What about the kids who attacked you, what happened to them?" Marty asked his leader.

"They are gone," Swoop said sadly, "Wild Card teleported them out a few minutes ago." he informed the Guardians.

"He's certainly evolved, he never really took hostages before." Joseph said to his leader.

"Seems everything has changed today, we need RZ to track the children, so grab what's left of the glasses, and let's head back to the HOK." Ish ordered as he and his fellow Guardians headed towards the Eagles Passageway, while Swoop headed towards a secret location to hide the Megacore in until things quieted down, for with Wild Card's return, and with his new means of attacking, things would surely never be the same...

 **So Wild Card has returned, and he is now more brutal than ever, will the Guardians be able to save the children, tune in next time to find out.**


	15. Chapter 15

"Wild Card is an even bigger coward than I realized if he's willing to kidnap small children and use them as pawns." Marty snarled he and his fellow Guardians excited the Eagles passageway and re-entered the HOK.

"I wouldn't call that a coward tactic," Joseph began, and that surprised the blonde Guardian, "he knows we don't like civilians caught in the crossfire, so he's decided to take advantage that, just like you guys evolved to fight Sudden Death a few months back, Wild Card has now evolved to fight us, it seems to be a never ending cycle." Joseph said in a serious tone.

"Dude, that's just depressing." Troy said in his own serious tone.

"It's sad but true." Joseph said simply.

"Joseph is right," RZ began as he kept analyzing the glasses used to control three of his Guardians, "we should have known Wild Card would evolve to become better prepared to combat us since the last time we saw him." RZ said as he stopped his observing the glasses and turned to face his five Guardians, all of whom where still in their armor.

"How do we fight against this, I mean he now has kidnaped children, and is using them as mindless drones, as I said, how the heck do we fight against this?" Ish asked his leader.

"I'm trying to hone in on the others glasses signals, Wild Card broadcasts a signal from whatever hole he chooses to hibernate in, and he uses that signal to control the glasses, and give orders to the children, if I can lock unto the signal, we will find the kids, and be able to rescue them." RZ said as he kept trying to lock in on the signal from Wild Cards newest device.

"He's not just using them as drones, he's using them as a shield, he's pretty much dug in his heels and is daring us to come in after him." Joseph said with a snarl.

"Once again Joseph is right, we will have to take caution if we attempt a rescue mission-." RZ began before Ish cut him off.

"'If we attempt a rescue mission,'" Ish repeated his leaders words before pausing to take a breath, "why wouldn't we attempt to rescue them, it's not the first time we've gone into Wild Cards lair." Ish said in a determined tone.

"As much as I want to rescue them, as long as Wild Card has hostages, we cannot attempt to engage him, we have to be strategic about this, we cant rush in energy blasts blazing." RZ said wisely, and that earned a reluctant head nod from Ish.

Suddenly the Broncos passageway activated and Ricky walked into the HOK, still in his Guardian attire, "Sorry I'm late, Blitz Bots took a while longer than expected to destroy, at least the Broncos Megacore is safe." RIcky said with a smile that his teammates couldn't see from behind his red visor, but hat smile disappeared swiftly upon Ish informing the Mexican-American Guardian.

"Wild Card you coward, using children as human shields, when do we strike?" Ricky asked with a snarl.

"Not until we have a plan, Ricky." RZ said calmly, for he as well wanted to rescue the children, but he knew this would require the delicateness of a surgeons hand, and tracking this signal was harder than expected, but unknown to RZ, he was not the only one trying to get a lock on the signal...

* * *

"That foolish man, putting himself back on the grid like that," Angkoro began as he stood in front of a holographic display, while his two Anticorian allies where on opposite sides of him, "give him some credit that at least he took some hostages to make sure the Guardians can't come after him." Angkoro mused as he began typing commands into the display.

"If Wild Card put himself back on the grid, he want's it to be known," Stellaria said wisely as she removed a stray strand of green hair from her eyes, "but he's not the only one I'm worried about." Stellaria said with a hint of fear in her voice, and Angkoro knew what, or rather who his female ally was talking about.

"We do not have to worry about that-." Angkoro began as Stellaria raised a hand to silence her friend.

"You weren't the one who was wounded and almost squeezed the death." she snarled at Angkoro, which made Zich grunt, to which his allies understood completely since he only talked in grunts, but they could understand it.

"Even Zich agrees with me, maybe we should lay low for awhile and bide our time, we don't want to attacked again, seeing as how last time we captured a Megacore, it tracked us rather quickly." Stellaria proposed.

"Our only mistake was taking the Megacores out of the force field, otherwise we wouldn't have been found, and speaking of being found, I have found a rather powerful Megacore," he said with a smile beneath his face plate, "if we let it leak that the Carolina Panthers Megacore is rather powerful, it might draw Wild Card back into the open, and that will bring the Guardians to Carolina, and while they fight, we steal the Panthers Megacore." Angkoro said as he cracked his knuckles.

* * *

A few hours had passed and currently all seven Guardians could be found at the HOK, even Ash was there, be it she had to use crutches due to her severely sprained ankle, "What's up, RZ?" Ash asked her leader.

"I think Wild Card has played his next hand, surveillance Blitz Bots have been detected in Charlotte, North Carolina, I'm sending Marty, Ricky and Joseph to Carolina, the rest of you are going to storm Wild Cards lair since I've tracked the source of the signal from the glasses." RZ instructed his seven Guardians.

"Why the Panthers?" Ash asked.

"Unknown, but we cannot afford to ignore this, head to the targets at once." RZ ordered as one team headed to Carolina, while the other team headed towards Wild Cards lair, but little did RZ know that Wild Card and the Anticorians trap would not be the only obstacle to content with...


	16. Chapter 16

"RZ, we've taken out the last of the surveillance Blitz Botz," Ricky said through the communication systems of his NFL-R, "We'll meet up with Claw and check for damage in the Megacore Vault, then we'll head home." Ricky informed his leader, the three Guardians had arrived in North Carolina and had easily taken out the few Blitz Botz around and inside the stadium.

"Sounds good Ricky, Ish's team is preparing to assault Wild Card's lair in Denver, if you are able to finish, I'll have your team link up with Ish, and both teams can assault the lair together." RZ informed the Mexican-American Guardian.

"Will do." RIcky said simply as the call ended and the trio began walking towards the Megacore vault, only to be met by Claw, the Panthers Rusher.

"Thanks for coming so quickly Guardians, "I can take on a couple of Blitz Botz, but Wild Card is usually not far behind his robotic minions." Claw said wisely as he proceeded to lead them towards the vault.

"It's not a problem at all, we are always ready to help." Joseph said simply.

"Thanks Joseph, how's it feel to be part of the team?" Claw asked the rookie Guardian.

"Feels awesome, feels like I've found my purpose." Joseph said simply as they reached the giant steel door of the Panthers Megacore vault.

"Door took minimal damage during the attack, then again those Botz are designed for recon as opposed to attacking," Claw said as he rubbed his chin, "regardless we are still going to check on the status of the Megacore." Claw said as he pressed a few hidden buttons on the door, and it swung open, only to reveal pitch darkness.

"Can't see a thing." Marty said, which earned head nods from his friends.

"We keep the Megacore in pitch blackness, it's a last layer of defense in case someone get's into the door, fun fact, we have white noise machines in here in order to drone out the subtle hum of the Megacore energy, also we've placed the Megacore inside an invisible force field that also cancels out any light inside the vault, I know it's extreme, but it's survived several attacks in the past." Claw said proudly, and that earned head nods from the Guardian trio.

"How do we know it's in here?" Ricky asked Claw.

"My eyes can see rather well in the dark, but I know your eyes can't see it, seeing as it's to risky to turn on th lights in here, turn on your night vision." Claw ordered, as the trio pressed a button on their wrists, and their night vision was turned on, and they could vaguely see a podium with the Panthers Megacore sitting on it.

"I can see it.-" Joseph said as a new voice entered the room.

"As can I, Guardians," Wild Card's voice called to them as the three Guardians and Rusher, turned and saw the armored man standing behind them, I'll make it simple, hand over the Megacore, or I will destroy you." Wild Card hissed at the four of them.

"Your not getting this Megacore, Wild Card." Claw snarled as the four of them took up a fighting stance, as Wild Card fired a purple colored energy blast at them.

"Defense engage!" all three Guardians shouted as a blue hard light shield came out of their NFL-R's and protected them from the attack, and they retaliated by firing their own blue energy blasts at Wild Card, who proceeded to run towards the attack and front flip into the air and lunge over the attack and land in front of them, where with a well placed sweeping kick he swept out the legs from under Ricky and Marty, but missed Joseph who back flipped away from the attack and into the pitch black vault.

"Stay down!" Wild Card said with an evil laugh as he put his foot unto the back of Marty's head, and applied pressure, only for Ricky to fire an energy blast at Wild Card, which struck him in the purple glowing W in his chest.

"Good shot," Wild Card said in a mocking tone, "here's mine." he laughed as he fired a cylinder from his wrist and once it was in range it detonated with a blinding light, which disoriented Ricky, Marty, and Claw, which gave Wild Card time to launch ana energy net at them that ensnared them and entangled them inside the net, where the electricity coursing thought the net caused all three of them to pass out almost instantly.

"Three down, one to go." Wild Card said with an evil laugh as he walked into the vault and began looking around for Joseph, but was instead met with a punch to the face which sent him flying backwards and out of the vault, and Joseph retreated back into the dankness.

"You cannot hide in the dark forever, Guardian." Wild Card hissed as his glowing purple eyes tried to peer through the dankness and find the rookie Guardian, but before he could, a strong blast of wind hit him in the back and sent him flying through a nearby wall, as the source of the wind, Stellaria, walked into view.

"Stand down, Wild Card," she said with a laugh as she walked up to the hole in the wall, "I'll take the Megacore if you don't mind." she laughed as Joseph ran out of he vault and took up a fighting stance.

"Didn't expect to see you here, Stellaria," Joseph hissed as he prepared one of his abilities, "where are your friends, or did they just send you alone?" Joseph snarled as he activated his copied ability from Troy and began rushing at the female Anticorian, only to be lifted off the ground by an anti-gravity attack from Angkoro who stepped from the shadows as well.

"Trying running at light speed in zero gravity, Guardian." Angkoro mocked as he blasted the rookie Guardian into a wall, where he landed in a crumpled heap.

"That was almost to easy, Wild Card as we planned softened them up, and we where there to finish them off." Angkoro said in a delighted tone as he walked into the pitch black Megacore vault, and using his alien technology, easily found the hidden Megacore and levitated it into his arms with one anti gravity wave, and shortly there after excited the vault.

"We'll be taking this Megacore if you don't mind." Angkoro mocked as he handed it to Stellaria and they prepared to teleport back to their hidden location.

"What if I do mind!?" Joseph yelled as he somersaulted to his feet and began firing rapid fire energy blasts at the two Anticorians before him, and the attacks struck them both and send them flying backwards, as well as Angkoro dropping the Megacore, and it rolling around on the ground, and Joseph using his copied ability picked up the Megacore, and felt his strength increase, for he knew that Wild Card was not the only one to receive a power boost from the Cores, the Guardians could also increase their strengths by using the Megacores.

"Don't take things that don't belong to you." Joseph mocked as he turned around and came face to face with Zich, who had somehow snuck up behind him.

"Where do you Anticorians keep coming from?" Joseph asked as he back-flipped out of the way or the larger Anticorians incoming punch, only to be blasted by a gravity blast, and a wind blast from the previously defeated Angkoro and Stellaria, and the combined attacks had him pinned down from the increased pressure of gravity and air, and they forced him down unto one knee.

"Not so tough when you can't move." Stellaria mocked as she walked up to the immobilized Guardian and recaptured the Panthers Megacore.

"We will see ourselves o-." Angkoro never got to finish due to a loud roar tearing through the hallways, and from around the corner walked a giant black mechanical panther, and Stellaria recognized the technology as the same that had almost killed her in New England.

* * *

 _'Fools, did you really think you could escape me when you put yourself into the open?'_ the being underneath the construction yard thought to itself as it controlled the mechanical behemoth, as she was looking at the Anticorians through the panthers purples eyes, and with a snarl, the panther lunged at the three Anticorians, and took a swiped with deadly looking mechanical claws, that glowed with a weird purple energy.

* * *

Angkoro dodged the incoming attack but was forced to release his gravity pressure on the rookie Guardian, who jumped up and ran out of the way to where his captured teammates and Rusher was still in the net.

"RZ, we've got a situation, we've got Wild Card, the Anticorians, and whatever the heck this new threat is!" Joseph yelled into his NFL-R, as he freed his friends form the net, and they quickly regained consciousness and took up fighting stances.

"Retreat, we cannot hope to win this battle, bring Claw with you to the HOK at once." RZ ordered his four allies, who nodded and activated the Panthers passageway and jumped through it, all expect for Joseph, who silently decided to stay behind and defend the Megacore, which did not go unnoticed by RZ.

"Joseph, what are yo doing?" RZ asked in a concerned tone.

"I'm not leaving the Megacore to the winner of this battle, somebody has got to defend it." Joseph said with determination as he cut off the line of communication and began firing energy blasts at the mechanical panther, to which the blasts just bounced off of it's armor, and innocently struck the walls.

The Anticorians where firing energy blasts, gravity blasts, and wind blasts at the panther, to which they all just bounced of it's armor, when suddenly Joseph had an idea.

"Focus all fire on it's eyes!" he ordered as he shot an energy blast at it's purple glowing eyes, and even thought the attack just bounced off, the panther growled and turned to face the rookie, and even Angkoro had to admit that seemed like a decent plan, so all three of them began firing at it's eyes, and shortly there after, one eye cracked and then went out, and the panther, as well as the being controlling it roared in pain, so it emanated a smoke screen rom it's mouth and vanished behind a thick inky smoke, leaving only th Guardian, and the Anticorians, both groups exhausted and running on fumes.

"Another time, Guardian!" Angkoro snarled as he teleported himself and his allies out of the stadium and back to their hidden location, leaving Joseph to pick up the Megacore and tuck it under his left arm, as he walked up to where Wild Card had been thrown through the wall, and was still lying there, but upon approaching his body fell into pieces, revealing it had been a Blitz Bot the whole time, but once again a holographic display emanated from it's purple eyes, revealing Wild Card sitting on a metal throne.

"Took you long enough to win this battle." Wild Card said in a mocking tone.

"Look who's talking, you're the coward who didn't even show yourself for this battle, and that's why the Panthers Megacore will be safe and sound." Joseph mocked as he turned away from the Blitz Bot.

"There it one detail RZ overlooked," Wild Card said in a slow and evil tone, and that made Joseph turn back around, "I allowed him to find the signal for te glasses, and let's just say, I was ready for your friends." Wild Card said with an evil laugh as the display shifted to the right and showed the Guardians from Ish's assault team all hanging from the ceiling and restrained by energy cuffs, and their NFL-R's had been removed.

"What do you want, Wild Card?" Joseph hissed in disgust.

"You know what I want, but since your new, I'll tell you anyway, I want a Megacore per hostage in the next seventy-two hours or else I'm keeping them, tell RZ." Wild Card said with an evil laugh as the transmission ended.

 **It was a massive battle this chapter, so Wild Card has captured half the Guardians, and is demanding a Megacore per hostage, what will happen, well there is only one way to find out.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Time to see what the plan is to try and save their friends, hope you all enjoy.**

"A Megacore per hostage?" RZ asked Joseph.

"That's what he said, he also said he's keeping the hostages if he doesn't get the Megacores in the next 72 hours." Joseph said with a sad sigh as he told his leader and the remaining Guardians, Wild Cards plan, for as soon as arriving back at the HOK Joseph had informed everyone of Wild Cards demands.

"RZ, what is the plan?" Ash asked from her sitting position on a hard light bed, for she had just gotten a follow up X-Ray on her ankle, and had just been cleared to re-enter the field.

"This is something we have never had happen before, Wild Card has captured a Guardian on occasion, but has almost never before taken civilians hostage, normally I would say we should launch and attack and free the others, but this time, we might have no choice but to give in to his demands." RZ said with a sad sigh, which earned shocked looks from the remaining four Guardians.

"You can't be serious!" Troy and Joseph shouted at the same time, which earned a look from both of them.

"I'm very serious, with hostages we can't just go in guns blazing." RZ said wisely.

"RZ, I might be a rookie and all," Joseph began as he paused to make sure he phrased his next sentence carefully, "one of my favorite movies "Air Force One" has a great line in it when the Government is trying to decide wether or not to negotiate with the hijackers, if I remember correctly, the line goes as follows, 'You give a mouse a cookie, he'll want a glass of milk.'" Joseph said as he remembered the line, which earned a look from RZ.

"The point behind this quote?" RZ asked the rookie.

"If we give Wild Card what he wants, he'll demand more since he knows we will give in to his demands if he pushes hard enough." Joseph said wisely, and even RZ had to admit he had a fair point.

"That is a fair point Joseph, might I ask what you would do?" RZ asked the rookie, to which Joseph just shrugged.

"I don't know what to do, Ash," he said as he turned to the female red-headed Guardian, your usually the tactical one, do you have a plan?" he asked her in a hopeful tone.

"I'm sorry, but I honestly don't know, I partially agree with RZ, and I partially agree with you Joseph." Ash said in a sad tone.

"Guardians, I will let you cast a vote on what we should do, either way, I know you'll make the right choice." RZ said in a serious tone, which earned head nods from all the Guardians.

"All in favor of giving a Megacore per hostage," RZ asked as Ricky and surprisingly Ash raised their hands, "those in favor of an alternative plan," he asked as Marty and Joseph raised their hands, "we have a tie, so I must cast the tie breaking vote, and I sadly vote that we give in to Wild Cards demands, we have no choice in the matter..." RZ said sadly.

"This is a bad idea and you know it." Joseph snarled as he walked towards the door that would exit the HOK.

"Joseph, we have to save them, it's our only logical choice." Ash pleaded with the newest Guardian.

"Marty, come with me, I have a different plan." Joseph requested his friends presence, but Marty seemed torn on who to side with.

"Joseph, we have to follow orders." Marty finally said, and that shocked Joseph.

"Then so be it, I will not be joining you on this mission, I have a different plan, and it will work." Joseph said as he excited the HOK.

"Should we go after him?" Marty asked RZ.

"No, he's our Wild Card," RZ said wisely, "if he thinks he has a plan, then I'll let him try it, be ready though in case he fails." RZ said wisely, which earned head nods from the other Guardians.

* * *

 _'Just got to find the right frequency,'_ Joseph thought to himself as he was messing around with his NFL-R, _'come on, come on,'_ he thought as he finally thought he had found the right frequency, "Anticorians, Wild Card has captured three Guardians, and is demanding a Megacore per hostage, that might only sound like three, but he has at least six or seven small children hostage, so that's nine or ten Megacores out in the open," Joseph paused as he waited fro a response, and to his non surprise their was none, "I know you can hear me on this channel Angkoro, I've watched the archive files, Wild Card hates you guys, you wont last very long if he has nine or ten Megacores." Joseph said bluntly.

"Neither would you, Guardian." Angkoro's voice responded to the transmission.

"Angkoro, haven't you heard of the old saying, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend?'" Joseph asked the Anticorian.

"That sounds look a foolish human saying, but even if I did, I would still not help you." Angkoro snarled.

"I'll put it this way then, why should Wild Card have those Guardians and those Megacores, you've worked harder than he has, shouldn't they be yours?" Joseph said with an enticing tone, hoping Angkoro would take the bait.

"You have a fair point," Angkoro admitted as he paused and thought it over, "very well, we will help you rescue the others, but after that, it's back to business as usual." Angkoro snarled.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Joseph replied as the line went dead.

 **So Joseph and RZ are both at adds, and they both have a plan to save their friends, who do you side with?**


	18. Chapter 18

A few hours had passed since RZ and Joseph had put heir respective plans into action, and Ash's team could be found in the Broncos stadium awaiting for the arrival of Wild Card and his hostages, their friends included.

"RZ, we've arrived in Denver and are awaiting the arrival of Wild Card, any word from him?" Ash asked her leader through the communicator in her NFL-R.

"He's should be there an-." RZ began before a familiar voice cut him off.

"Hello Guardians," Wild Cards voice said as he teleported himself into the stadium, "I see you have decided to do the sensible thing, took you long enough." Wild Card said in a mocking tone as he kept a reasonable distance from his enemies.

"Where are our friends, Wild Card?" Ash asked their enemy.

"But of course." Wild Card said with a mocking bow as he pressed a button on his wrist and Ish, Troy and Tua appeared in a flash of purple light, all gagged and restrained in an energy net, and without their NFL-R's/

"Let them go, now!" Ash demanded, and it was clear to Wild Card that the red-headed Guardian was losing her patience, but he decided to toy with her as much as possible, milk the moment for everything it was worth.

"Let them go, or let him go, Ashley Reynolds," Wild Card said in a taunting tone, "I know you care for all your friends, but do you have special feelings for your leader, Ish Taylor?" Wild Card said in a mocking tone, and that made Ash blush underneath her gray visor.

"I care for all my friends, I will not single any of them out." Ash shot back in a defensive tone, and it was clear to Wild Card as well as everyone present, that he had struck a nerve.

"Really touched a nerve there, didn't I?" Wild Card said in a cruel mocking tone as he began to laugh evilly...

* * *

"He's out in the open, we should attack now and destroy him." Angkoro snarled as he and his Anticorian allies where hiding in a tunnel inside the stadium.

"We agreed to wait for the Guardians signal, trust me I want him dead as much as you do, but we must be patient, or we will miss our chance." Stellaria said in a calm tone as she calculated a plan of attack, to which Zich just grunted his approval.

"What kind of signal are we looking for?" Angkoro said an in annoyed tone.

"He said we'd know it when we see it." Stellaria said as she cracked her armored knuckles.

* * *

"But now unto business," Wild Card said as he had finished toying with the female Guardian, "I've showed you your friends, now show me the MEgacores." Wild Card said in an almost sincere tone, and in response the three Guardians stepped aside revealing ten Megacores inside a giant bag.

"Excellent," Wild Card said as he made a fist with his left hand, "Now hand them over, and I'll hand over the hostages." Wild Card said once again in an almost sincere tone, as Ash picked up the Patriots Megacore and slowly walked towards Wild Card as she held out her hand with the Megacore in it, but just as the transaction was almost complete, fireworks erupted from the top of the stadium, generating loud bangs and explosions of light, which made both groups look up at the fireworks in shock and confusion.

"What is going on?" Ricky whispered to Marty as suddenly orange laser blasts erupted from one fo the tunnels that lead unto the field and struck Wild Card sailing backwards, as the Anticorians rushed unto the field.

"Hello Wild Card, surprised to see us?" Angkoro said in a mocking tone as he and his allies proceeded to hammer their enemy with constant laser blasts.

"I think that answers the question." Ash said quickly as she ran up to the net where her friends where entrapped and absorbed the energy, allowing herself the time to quickly break the net open with her enhanced strength.

"Thanks for the save, Ash." Ish said with a smile as he, Troy and Tua got behind the three armored Guardians since they where still without their NFL-R's.

"Everything has a breaking point, let's test yours." Stellaria snarled as she hit Wild Card with a strong burst of wind, that trapped him to the goalpost near the end of the field.

"Enough of this!" Wild Card shouted as he managed to raise his right hand and fire a bolt of purple lightning from every finger that struck Angkoro and Stellaria and made them drop to one knee, but Zich was unaffected as with a snarl he rushed at Wild Card and tried to punch his enemy with his enormous strength, but Wild Card used his superior mobility to jump into the air and front flip over the larger Anticorian and shoot him in the back with a purple energy blast, and Zich went down.

"As you said about me, let's test your breaking point!" Wild Card snarled as he began a continues barrage of purple lightning that paralyzed Angkoro and Stellaria, and made their bodies twitch from the energy lightning, but suddenly a blue energy blast struck Wild Card in the back and made him loose his balance as Joseph materialized on the battle field, using his copied teleportation ability from Marty.

"'Sup Wild Card, remember me?" Joseph asked in a mocking tone as he took up a fighting stance.

"I'm going to kill you!" Wild Card snarled as he lunged at Jacob and drew back his right fist for a punch, Joseph did the same and the two punches collided, and threw them both backwards slightly.

Wild Card shot a lightning blast at Joseph, but the rookie Guardian front-flipped over the attack and attempted a dive kick, only for Wild Card to grab his foot and twist him around in the air and slam him into the turf, where Joseph used his free foot to kick the man in his face and jump into a fighting stance.

"Your persistence is annoying." Wild Card snarled.

"One thing you'll learn about me is I never give up." Joseph said as he again took a fighting stance as Wild Card ran at him and attempted his own dive kick.

"Reaction Time!" Joseph shouted as time slowed to a crawl from his point of view, even though Joseph knew he'd only have ten seconds before his ability would need to recharge, so Joseph delivered a devastating round house kick to Wild Cards chest just as his ability wore off, and sent his enemy flying backwards and into a kneeling position.

"Had enough?" Joseph snarled as he walked forward and prepared a sleep educing punch, only for Wild Card to teleport away in a blinding purple light.

"Coward!" Joseph spat as he looked to where the Anticorians had been lying, only to notice they had vanished, having teleported out as the battle progressed, with a sigh he walked over to his fellow Guardians, where they where glaring at him.

"What where you thinking, Joseph?" Ash asked the rookie.

"I was thinking since you and Ricky voted for the least sensible option, I had to take action." Joseph said honestly as he folded his arms in defiance of the scolding he knew he was about to receive, but surprisingly Ish came to his defense.

"Ash, we all have made choice where we think we know better than anyone, and this one actually turned out to work, while it's something I would not encourage in the future, I do have to give credit where it's do, his plan saved us and the ten Megacores." Ish said with a serious tone and expression.

"But we lost the kids because of his actions." Ricky said angrily.

"There where no kids," Tua said, and that shocked everyone present, "Wild Card built Blitz Botz that looked so conniving they could pass for kids, and he's got more than just seven of them, he's built a whole army of them." Tua informed the four Guardians who had avoided capture.

"How the heck do we spot them?" Marty asked Ish.

"I don't know, but RZ might, let's head back to the HOK, and inform him of what happend hear tonight, and let's take these Megacores home, I'm sure the Rushers will be happy to see them again." Ish said with a smile as they walked into the stadium, oblivious to the danger they would soon be in, for someone was watching through a hidden security camera...

* * *

 _'Children this whole time, how foolish,'_ she though to herself as she sat on her giant throne, for she had noticed the fireworks display in Denver had made the nightly local news from Denver, and quickly hacked into security footage from the stadium, to reveal a three way battle between the Guardians, the Anticorians, and Wild Card, she was tempted to send one of her mech's into battle, but decided it would be a waste of time, and reveal that she had been watching, and that proved to be wise decision, for she had learned some big secrets.

 _'The Guardians are children, how interesting, but who are they really?'_ she thought to herself as she looked at the still images she had taken from the camera, and with a simply thought she began running the images through databases from around the country, and soon, she would know who they where...


	19. Chapter 19

"Guardians, I am relieved that you are all alright." RZ said in a warm tone as soon as they excited the Broncos passageway and entered the HOK.

"Other than the fact that Wild Card has our NFL-R's, we're alright." Ish said in a tone that indicated he was not happy that he had lost his NFL-R.

"We will retrieve them as soon as we can locate his hideout, but for now, I'm giving you three the week off to rest and regain your strength." RZ said in a serious tone.

"Where our parents worried?" Tua asked his leader.

"Ish's mother told them that you where at a sleep over at his house, and they bought it, so all is well on that front." RZ said with a smile, since Tua and Troy's family had no idea that they where Guardians.

"RZ you will need to inform the Rushers who gave up their Megacores that we where able to save them, that way then can take them back to their respective vaults." Ash informed her leader.

"I have already notified them, in fact I was watching your battle through a surveillance camera hidden in the stadium, I erased the footage since three of you where out of armor, so your identities are safe." RZ said with a confident smile, unaware to the truth.

* * *

 _'Ish Taylor, Troy Kang, Tua Tupola,_ ' she thought to herself as her search through databases had finally uncovered the three Guardians identities, and she could be currently found sitting on her metal throne looking at the faces of the three unmasked Guardians on a giant holographic video screen in the center of the room, finding their identities had taken just a little under half and hour, but the real surprise was their age, _'these three Guardians are only eleven?'_ she asked herself as she looked up the files from their school that she had uncovered, _'I thought they looked young, but this confirms it._ ' she thought as her mechanical mouth morphed into a smile.

She had been wondering who these so called Guardians where, and now she knew who three of them where, that only meant their where four left for her to uncover, suddenly an alarm was blaring inside the bridge of the star-ship, and with a thought, the problem appeared on screen, Blitz Botz where spotted near the outskirts of the city of Canton, but seemed to be unable to enter the city.

 _'Why are they unable to enter?'_ he asked herself as a holographic keyboard materialized and she quickly typed in commands, and hacked into one of the Blitz Botz, and was surprised by the feed she was seeing, there was a force field, invisible to the naked eye, but it went hundreds of feet into the air, and completely engulfed the city, and it seemed to be used to repel Blitz Botz and Blitz Borgs.

 _'A so called 'safe zone' how clever, but not clever enough.'_ she thought with an evil smile as she decided to run an experiment and activated two of her special borgs as their pods lit up, both of them green and white, as the one pod opened and a giant metal robot with the body of a man, but the head of an eagle, and powerful arms with razor sharp talons for fingers walked towards her, the second pod opened and out walked another human shaped Borg, only this one had retractable wings tucked into it's back, and it had a fighter pilots helmet for a head.

With a though her mind linked with theirs and now she had complete control over both of them, and lead them to the pod that would take them to the city of Canton, and to test this so called 'safe zone.'

* * *

"Joseph you acted bravely in fighting Wild Card, but your plan was flawed." RZ informed the rookie.

"My plan worked RZ, get the Anticorians to fight Wild Card, and while they both where distracted, we save our friends, simply plan, and it was executed flawlessly." Joseph said in a stubborn tone, for in his mind he had done the right thing, but before RZ could respond an alarm started blaring inside the HOK, and a pop up appeared before RZ, and a shocked look appeared on his face.

"Guardians the safe zone had been breached, a giant mechanical pod had landed on the outskirts of Canton, I need the four of you to go there at once and repel this attack." RZ ordered the four Guardians who could actually fight.

"Enter the Rush Zone!" they all shouted as their clothes where replaced by their Guardian armor and they quickly exited the HOK in order to fight this incoming threat.

* * *

"Isn't their a safe zone around Canton?" Joseph asked as he and his fellow Guardians where currently using their flight abilities to fly towards the threat.

"There is, it was built to repel Blitz Botz and Blitz Borgs, you cant go over it, but you can't go under it." Ash informed the rookie.

"Than how did this threat get in?" Joseph asked.

"We've got incoming!" Marty shouted as a missile went flying by them and exploded, sending them all hurtling towards the ground, and they barely managed to land on their feet.

"What the heck was that?" Ricky snarled as the Guardians got back to back with each other in a circle, ready for anything, suddenly with a mechanical roar two giant borgs landed in front of them, one with the head of an eagle, one with the head of a fighter pilots helmet.

"I think this answers how the threat got through the safe zone," Joseph snarled as he prepared an attack, "the safe zone is designed to stop Wild Card and the Anticorians, but it was designed before these things came to town!" Joseph snarled as he and his fellow Guardians all began firing energy blasts at the two giant borgs, only for their attacks to bounce off of them, but they just seemed to be standing there, observing them.

"Why aren't they attacking?" Marty asked as they continued to stand there.

"They might be just toying with us." Ricky proposed.

"Or studying and analyzing us." Ash said as they kept back to back as suddenly the two borgs turned to face each other and fired a purple and black energy blast from their mouths, and they beams met and went soaring hundred of feet into the air and within a few seconds, they had penetrated the shield protecting the city.

"RZ the-." Ash began as RZ interrupted.

"The safe zone is down, I'm working to reboot it, but that attack was unlike anything I've ever seen, such tremendous power." RZ informed the female Guardian.

Suddenly the borgs roared and charged at the Guardians, and after a moment of shock they charged back, and soon this little wooded area would be filled with the sounds of combat.

 **To be continued...**


	20. Chapter 20

The Borg with the Eagle head reared back it's right taloned fist and tired to slash at the four Guardians, only for all four of them to stop and activate their defensive shield, but to their surprise and horror the claws shredded their shields like a hot knife through better and sent them flying backwards into several trees, where the slash wounds on their chests where sparking where the talons actually managed to leave huge damage to their armor.

"That really hurt." Marty said with a moan as he sprung to his feet and took up a fighting stance and began using his teleportation ability to dodge the borgs incoming slash attacks, buying time for his fellow Guardians to rise to their feet and take up their own fighting stances, just as the bot swatted Marty to the side and began rushing at the other three Guardians.

"Ice blast power pass!" Ricky shouted as an ice ball formed in his right hand and he shot it at the borgs legs, only for it to somersault over the attack with surprising speed and agility and deliver a devastating dive kick with it's clawed feet, and pinned Ricky to the ground, where he struggled to free himself.

"Super Stomp!" Ash shouted as she jumped into the air and brought her right foot down first, which created a shock wave that actually knocked the machine off it's feet and it stumbled backwards, making Ash smile underneath her gray visor, only for it to turn to a grimace of pain as a purple energy blast struck her in her gut as the borg with the fighter jet helmet was standing there with purple smoke emanating from a huge gun that had once been it's right hand.

'Looks like I'm the last one standing, no pressure at all.' Joseph thought to himself as he gulped and used his copied Super Stomp ability from Ash and created another shock-wave that ripped the ground open towards the two borgs, but this time they where ready as they using hidden thrusters levitated over the ground and waited for the shock-wave to subside, and once it did, the eagle headed borg opened it's mouth and let loose a high pitched sonic shriek that made Joseph drop to his knees and cover his ears, while the other borg fired a missile and it struck Joseph in the gut, and even though his armor easily absorbed the blast, it still sent him flying backwards through several trees, and he landed in a crumbled heap, and it was clear that he wouldn't be moving anytime soon, and Ash and Joseph where out of the battle.

"RZ, we are getting destroyed here, we need backup!" Marty yelled into his NFL-R.

"Marty, the others cannot fight without their NFL-R's, and it would take to long for the Rushers to arrive, you need to get out of there." RZ ordered the Guardian, who closed the line of communication, and proceeded to teleport himself around different parts of the battle field and fire an energy blast every time he appeared, only for the borg to predict his next appearance and fire a purple and black energy blast that struck the Jewish Guardian and he was out, and with one kick to the face, Ricky was out too, and now all four Guardians where defeated.

' _Let's see the abilities of these Guardians.'_ the being controlling the borgs thought to herself as the eagle headed borg picked up Ricky and Marty and wires came out of their chests and inserted themselves into their wrist mounted NFL-R's, and downloaded all available information from them, and dropped them to the ground when the download was complete, and the Jet borg did the same with Joseph and Ash and as soon as the download was complete, it as well dropped them, but she was in for another surprise as unknown to her she had also drained all the power from their armor and all four Guardians NFL-R's deactivated and they where lying their in their civvies, be it unconscious, and the tow borgs took pictures of their faces, and with that, the mission was complete, and they using heir flight abilities took to the skies, cloaked themselves, and headed back to the construction yard.

* * *

 _'Ish Taylor, Ashley Reynolds, Troy Kang, Tua Tupola, Marty Stevens, Ricky Cervantes, and Joseph Sanders,'_ she thought to herself as her borgs re-entered their pods to charge, _'now that I know who you are, I will be coming for you, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.'_ she thought to herself as she let out an evil mechanical laugh as she thought on her giant throne. ...

* * *

"Joseph," the rookie Guardian heard a voice call to him through the dankness, "wake up Joseph." the voice called as Joseph woke up with a start, only to be held down by Swoop.

"Calm down, your safely back at the HOK." Swoop said in a clam tone as Joseph relaxed and laid back down on the hard light bed.

"I feel like I got hit by a runaway train." Marty moaned as he as well woke from his induced unconsciousness.

"That's not a bad analogy," RZ said as he was looking at all four of his Guardians who had been defeated, "this threat easily won this battle, and showed no mercy during the fight, I hate to say this, but your lucky to be alive." RZ said in a serious tone as Ricky tried to stand up form his bed, only for his knees to buckle and fall to the ground, where the Browns Rusher, K-9, bent down and gently picked him back up and put him back on the bed.

"How long have we been out?" Ash asked with a moan and a sigh.

"A few hours, the Rushers found you shortly after the battle and brought you back here to the Hall of Knowledge." RZ answered the red headed Guardians question.

"RZ, the safe zone-." Ricky began as he couldn't finish the sentence and grabbed his chest due to pain from being pinned earlier.

"The safe zone is operational again, I re-booted it roughly an hour ago, however this new threat has proven it can get through the safe zone at will, and until we learn more about who, or what this threat is, these attacks will most likely continue." RZ said in a serious tone as the Ish, Tua and Troy entered the HOK and ran to their injured friends sides.

"RZ, mom told me they where attached but she didn't know any details, can you fill us in?" Ish asked his leader.

"This new threat penetrated the safe zone, and they tried to stop it, and where defeated." RZ gave the quick version of what happened.

"That ain't good," Troy said in a gently tone as he took a knee next to Marty, "we should have been there to help." Troy said as he slammed a fist against the ground.

"Next time you will be, for I have constructed you new NFL-R's," RZ said as the Jaguars Rusher, Spot walked forward and handed the three Guardians their new NFL-R's, which they took and slipped unto their left wrists, as hey continued to look at their injured friends with concerned looks.

"They will be staying here tonight so I can evaluate their injuries and check for internal damage." RZ said wisely as Ish and his three un-injured friends nodded their heads and turned to leave, and give their friends a good night sleep.

* * *

' _These Guardians where no problem at all,'_ she thought to herself as she sat on a giant throne, watching recorded footage from the battle she has just endured, for even though she had won, there was still much to learn to have a better performance next time, 'it seems the season kicks off soon,' she thought as she saw the schedule of NFL games, and the Chiefs would be on the road taking on the Patriots in New England for opening night, _'it will be to risky to send one of the Crushers with the stadium packed full of people, so a crusher would be easily spotted, than again, that might be good for my plan.'_ she thought as she brought up a map of Gillette Stadium.

But after a few minutes of observing the layout of the stadium, she figured there where a few other problems that would quite possibly arise, and throw her whole operation into chaos, and granted she did like chaos and anarchy, but these factors could not be overlooked or ignored.

 _'The Anticorians will most likely try to strike at this sporting event, as well as Wild Card since it's opening night in the league and both the Patriots and Chiefs Megacore will be at full power, thus making them likely targets, then again ,there will be all sorts of negative energy, tremendous amounts of negative energy from both sides, and that energy is power...'_ she thought to herself as she clenched her metal right fist, and a smile formed on her skull like face, as she sank back into her throne, and powered down to recharge.

* * *

"At least we got our abilities back." Troy said an in attempt to raise the three remaining Guardians spirits, as they where walking on the sidewalk down the street that would lead them home.

"It wasn't soon enough though." Tua said in a defeated tone.

"I agree with Tua, if we had been there, we might have made a difference." Ish said in an equally defeated tone.

"Guys, we can't blame ourselves," Troy began as he removed a strain of his jet black hair from his right eye, "if anyone Wild Card is to blame, he stole our NFL-R's, that's what stopped us from helping the others, so if you want to blame someone, blame him." Troy said with a slightly angry tone.

"We are partially at fault Troy, we allowed ourselves to get captured, that's how Wild Card removed our NFL-R's from our possession." Ish said as he pulled out his cell phone to return a text, unaware that their conversation was being listened in on...

* * *

"Four of the seven Guardians have been defeated, oh how delightful." Wild Card said as he stood in front of a monitor listening in on their conversation, the reason he was able to do this, their old NFL-R's where hooked up to the monitor through wires and creations of his own designs, and that allowed himself to listen in on all their communications, and now that four Guardians where down, it would be the perfect time to strike, and the Patriots and Chiefs Megacores would be his.

* * *

 **AN:** **This was originally supposed to be two chapters, but I decided to combine them into one long chapter since I wont be able to update this weekend due to a busy schedule. Next chapter should be out Monday or Tuesday sometime, also I need your help my loyal fans, can someone please tell me those hard-light three-wheeled bikes that the Guardians used towards the end of the series? Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I cannot wait to write the next one, till next time, Nobel Six over and out**


	21. Chapter 21

"Guardians, I know things have been quite over the past few weeks, but we can only assume this is the calm before the storm hits," RZ said as the Guardians stood looking up him, a few weeks had passed since the attacks on the four Guardians and everything had been quite, but tonight was the start of the 2017 season, "the Patriots and Chiefs will be playing tonight, the Megacores will be super charged due to it being opening night, so we need all hands on deck tonight, you all will need to be your best tonight, for an attack is immanent knowing Wild Card since he sometimes likes to target the biggest game available." RZ said, which earned head nods form his Guardians.

"Don't worry RZ, we got this." Troy said in a confident tone with a confident smile on his face.

"Don't be so cocky Troy, the Anticorians as well might try to strike tonight, them plus Wild Card could be dangerous," RZ began before he thought off another possibility, "also with this new threat, whatever it is could try and strike tonight as well." RZ said in a cautious tone.

"RZ, we'll be ready." Ish said with a determined tone.

"Excellent, take the passageway to New England, and meet up with Freedom and Arrow Head, protect the Megacores at all cost, but most importantly, be safe." RZ said as seven Guardians shouted "Enter the Rush Zone!" and they where on their way to New England, unaware of the threat that was about to unfold...

* * *

'Tonight is the perfect night to spread and absorb a little, negative energy.' she thought to herself as she wirelessly connected with two of her Crushers and activated them, and soon duo of ten feet tall Crushers where activated, the first one was the same one used to attack New England previously, it had the look of a robotic soldier, complete with an army helmet, be it with the star crossed out, the second looked like a robotic Native American Chieftain, the only difference was the large energy spear and bow and arrows strapped to it's back, and with another thought two large spheres opened next to the borgs pods and inside where pith black footballs that glowed with a purple aura.

'Tonight is stage one of my revenge, and it's a dish best served cold.' she thought with an evil smile on her skull like face as her wire like hair plugged into sockets in the back of her throne, ready to absorb all the negative energy from the chaos that was about to ensue...

* * *

"Good to see you Guardians," the Chiefs Rusher, Arrow Head greeted three of the seven Guardians as they walked towards Kansas City's locker room, "as you know, tonight is a perfect night to strike since it's opening night, needless to say our Megacore is fully charged, as well as the Patriots's," Arrow Head said as he paused to take a breath, "our Megacore is in the guest vault, as unlikely as this sounds, I hope nothing happens tonight and we can all enjoy some football." the rusher said with a smile, which earned one from Ash, Tua and Ricky, as they smiled under their armors visors.

"Knowing Wild Card, he can't resist a fully charged Megacore, especially on such a big game." Ash said wisely, which earned a head nod from everyone.

* * *

"Never thought I'd be at this game as opposed to watching it on TV." Joseph said in an almost giddy tone as he and his the other remaining four Guardians took their seats in the stadium.

"Trust me Joseph, it never gets old." Ish said with a smile as he patted the rookie Guardian on the shoulder.

"I still don't get why RZ wants us here, and not near the Megacore." Troy whispered to his leader.

"He want's the team in two places at once, one near the vaults, and one near the field, in case there is double trouble." Ish said wisely, which earned a head nod from Troy, and from Marty who took a bite of his pretzel.

* * *

The two borgs pod was cloaked as it silently hovered above the field as it was waiting for kickoff, for that was the perfect time to strike, emotions would be running high, and there would certainly be a fair amount of negative energy, feeding their master, allowing her to in time get her revenge...

* * *

 **AN: I'm sorry it's really short my loyal fans, but I wanted to get a chapter out today, the next one will be longer, also please vote on the poll on my profile page, that will decide what happens next chapter...**


	22. Chapter 22

**I'm back my good friends, I want to thank my awesome friend and editor Darkest Nightmare's Dread for writing this amazing fight scene, I recomend you check him out, he's easily among the best authors I know.**

"He approaches the ball, and we are underway," Joseph said in his best football announcer impersonation as he began clapping as the Patriots kicked off to the Chiefs. The 2017 NFL season was underway, but unknown to the Guardians, the attack was also underway as the hidden pod had opened and the two borgs began skydiving towards the outskirts of the stadium. Upon their arrival, they would begin their mission towards getting their mistress all the negative energy she could feed on.

Inside the Stadium, Ash's team stood inside the Chiefs' locker room guarding the Chiefs Megacore, which could be found in the guest vault. All of a sudden, their NFL-R's started beeping, indicating an incoming message from RZ. "Ash, I have detected unusual activity outside the stadium. It is an unidentified energy of some sort. The source is right outside the stadium, but it's getting closer with every second," RZ informed the red-headed Guardian.

"Is it Wild Card or the Anticorians?" Ash asked, and that caused her three fellow Guardians to get up and get ready just in case.

"That is a negative, Ash. This energy is different. I am uncertain as to what it is, but it's right outside the stadium... Correction: It is inside the stadium, right outside the..." RZ never got to finish, being drowned out in a sea of static.

"Darn it. The signal's being jammed," Ash said as the team ran out onto field as a giant cloaked borg dropped its invisibility cloak and stood there in front of the Guardians. "You're not welcome here!" Ash shouted as she and her friends took up a fighting stance. In response, the borg pulled a bow off its back and notched an arrow that glowed with a purple aura. "I don't like the look of that arrow," Ash said.

"Keep the borg away from the civilians while we find a place to armor up!" Ish ordered over his NFL-R as he, Joseph, Marty, and Troy got up from their seats, blending in with the panicked crowd trying to flee the stadium. "It's likely that we'll be getting visitors."

"Roger that," Ash replied as she glared at the Native American-like borg. "You're pretty tall, but you know what they say: The bigger they are, the harder they fall! Super Kick!" She shouted as she kicked the air, a burst of energy shooting from her foot straight toward the tall robot. The attack connected, but the robot seemed to withstand the hit while not taking any damage. "Well, that's not good," Ash said as the giant borg loosed its arrow. The three heroes dodged away from the attack, barely managing to avoid the explosion.

The borg notched another arrow, but Ricky had other ideas. "Ice Blast Power Pass!" He shouted as he conjured an icy football in his hands. "Hey, Tua. Go big and long!" He shouted.

"You got it!" Tua said as he ran backward, dodging the borg's arrow. Seeing his chance, Ricky threw the icy football so that it curved around the giant borg. "Super Size!" Tua shouted as he got ready. Channeling his power, he grew to about 7 feet tall, which was fortunate, as the football would have gone way over his head were he normal-sized. The now-giant Tua caught the football and threw it at the borg. The football connected, causing the borg to stumble backwards, temporarily stunned. Taking advantage of this, Tua charged in and body-slammed the borg, forcing it to the ground.

Seeing her opportunity, Ash ran in. "Super Stomp!" She shouted as she stomped on the ground. Hearing this, Tua jumped clear of the borg, avoiding a shockwave that shot forward and smacked the robot back to the ground when it had just managed to get to its feet. "Don't you hate it when that happens?" Ash asked.

"I know I do," Ricky said as he gave Ash a high-five.

"Guys, it's a little too early to start celebrating just yet," Tua pointed out as the borg started standing up. "We've got big problems right now."

"No kidding," Ash remarked sarcastically as she got ready for another round of fighting. The borg notched another arrow and shot it at the Guardians, who dodged it. "We've got to do something about that bow," she mused as she dodged another shot. Suddenly, she had an idea. "Ricky, go around!"

Ricky realized what she wanted to do. "Good idea!" He replied as he ran around. The borg tried to turn with him, but it was distracted by Tua punching it in the stomach. As the two titans brawled, Ricky conjured a football of ice in his hands. "Ice Blast Power Pass!" He shouted as he threw the ball…

* * *

Endgame smiled as she patiently waited for the energy to build up to proper levels. She knew something the Guardians didn't: Their struggles only strengthened her, a mistake they would soon regret. There was a soft beep as the negative energy battery reached optimal levels. "It is time," she said as she stood up from her throne, the cables automatically disconnecting from the head of the throne, giving her the appearance of hair. She walked over to a nearby computer terminal and started the next stage of her plan: hacking into the Passageway. After all, all her power would do her no good if she couldn't actually access the battlefield. Barely a few moments later, a portal to the Passageway opened before her. "I will oversee this myself," she said as she stepped through the portal. She ignored the messages being played around her as she sped toward the stadium. She had better things to do…

* * *

Meanwhile, up in the stands, Ish, Troy, Marty, and Joseph suited up. "Okay," Ish said. "Let's go and assist Ash and the others," he said as the four began making their way down to the field.

"I don't think so," a female voice said behind them. Ish and the others turned in surprise to see a robotic woman standing behind them. She was made out of black metal, except for her white skull-like face. She was tall and slender, but Ish knew better than to think that she'd be an easy opponent to defeat. "Who are you?" He asked as he got into a combat stance.

"Does it matter?" The figure before him, Endgame, replied. "I'm here to defeat you and your friends."

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen!" Troy said as he darted to the side. "Light Speed!" He said as he started running at high speed, trying to snare Endgame with the trail left behind by his speed.

"Is that it?" Endgame said as she began running after Troy.

The two started running toward each other, clashing momentarily, and then breaking apart to charge back toward each other again. They were matched in speed, but Troy had something Endgame didn't: a friend who watched too much TV. Marty got a punch in on Endgame, and then teleported away from her strike. "Too slow!" He said. Before Endgame could react, Troy ran back in and punched her across her skull face, distracting her while Marty got into position. With a smirk, he ran in and began punching rapidly at Endgame while shouting "OraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraORA!" Annoyed, Endgame tried to trick Marty into hitting Troy, but it didn't work. Troy was just too fast. "Your next line is: Stop that! It's so annoying!" Marty said. "That's the one!"

"Stop that! It's so annoying!" Endgame snapped, realizing too late what she had done. Growling, she rushed back at Troy, opting for a grab instead of a punch. She was successful, and threw Troy at Marty, causing both of them to go flying backwards and hit their heads on the announcer's booth, knocking them out.

Joseph saw his chance. "Copy Cat: Super Si-" He tried to shout as he attempted to channel Tua's power, but Endgame hit him and knocked the wind out of him, effectively putting him out of commission.

"Freight Train Force!" Ish shouted as he created an energy shield in front of himself. He charged forward, but Endgame punched the shield with such force that he was sent flying backward, crashing right between Ash's Guardians and the borg. "We've really got to stop meeting like this," Ish joked as he got to his feet.

"Who the heck is that?" Ash asked as Endgame ran down the bleachers onto the field.

"Dunno," Ish replied, "but whoever it is, they're not with the Anticorians or Wild Card."

"Doesn't matter. I can take 'em out!" Tua said as he charged forward, still in Super Size. Endgame smirked and charged forward. Tua wound up to punch, but Endgame dodged to Tua's right and dipped low, sweeping Tua's legs out from under him. The giant Guardian went down quickly, taking Ricky with him.

"Super Kick!" Ash shouted as she kicked a burst of energy at Endgame. The hit connected, but to Ash's surprise, Endgame used the momentum from the hit to add extra oomph to her punch, which connected with the heroine's gut, causing her to fly back and hit her head on the ground, knocking her out.

"ASH!" Ish shouted. He turned and glared at Endgame. "You'll pay for that!" He said as he ran forward to punch Endgame.

"A foolish endeavor," Endgame said as she kicked Ish in the gut, causing him to collide with a recovering Tua, knocking them both out. The villainess shook her head as she walked forward and hit her borg's frozen quiver, unfreezing it. "That was just too easy," she said, shaking her head as she and her borg walked away from the battlefield. Endgame had wanted a challenge, and these Guardians had barely put up a fight. "This was a waste," Endgame muttered as she retreated from the area…

 **To be continued…**

 **Edited by Darkest Nightmare's Dread**


	23. Chapter 23

_'That was all to easy,'_ Endgame thought to herself as her Crusher re-sealed itself into it's pod, and she took a seat on her mechanical throne, _'I expected more of a challenge from these Guardians,'_ she mused as her wire like hair re-connected to the hidden sockets in her throne, and she began to process of storing some of her negative energy, for she had to store at least half of the energy she absorbed, no point in absorbing it all if she wasn't going to use it all.

With a though a holographic display appeared in front of her, showing her the identities of all seven Guardians again, and she began looking for their home and school addressees, for it was time to attack them where they where most vulnerable, and it was in their so called 'Safe Zone.'

 _'I could easily send a Crusher to dismantle them,'_ she mused as she rubbed her chin in contemplation, _'but where it the fun in that, I think it's time to test my newest weapon...'_ she though as she activated another holographic display and it showed two young boys suspended in separate stasis pods, however a purple and black aura could be seen glowing around the pods, and with a mere though the pods opened with a hiss, and steam began pouring out, and the two boys dropped to the ground, and opened their eyes, but instead of their normal eye color, their eyes now glowed purple, similar to Wild Card.

 _'These test subjects will be most useful, although they cannot fully control the negative energy of a Negacore, I suspect their will be a lot of collateral damage, which is fine by me...'_ she mused as the boys stood up and like robots walked towards the door that lead to the throne room.

"It is time to present yourself to the Guardians, give the, a proper Endgame welcome," Endgame began as a small compartment on her throne opened with a mechanical hiss and she reached inside of it and pulled out two devices, similar to, but not exactly like an NFL-R that the Guardians use, as she stood up from her throne and put the devices on their wrists, and upon activating them, their civilian attire was replaced with nearly identical Guardian armor, expect the armor color was purple and black, and had Freddy Krueger like claws attached to every finger but the thumbs, "give them my love..." Endgame said as she sat back down on her throne, leaving her two minions to get into a pod that would take them to their target location, the Guardians school...

* * *

"Class dismissed." Ash's teacher said as Ash stood up from her desk and headed towards the school cafeteria, it was the schools lunch period, and everyone, her friends all but Ricky included would be at lunch, and there would be a lot to discuss, after what had happened the previous night, Ash, and as well as her friends, had a lot on their mind, for this new threat had cut through them like a hot knife through butter.

"Hey Ash," Marty greeted her as she took a seat at her usual spot at her usual table where she and her fellow Guardians usually sat, unbeknownst to everyone around them, "it will just be you and me for awhile, everyone but Joseph is still in gym, there is a basketball game going on, and Joseph had to go to the office, he forgot his math book, and his father is dropping it off." Marty said.

"I don't know 'bout you, but I'm happy today seems normal, after the butt kicking we suffered last night." Ash mumbled, which Marty heard perfectly.

"We weren't prepared for that," Marty said, not caring to keep his voice down due to the extremely loud cafeteria filled with kids without a care in the world, "we've never fought somebody with that much power, but next time, we will emerge victorious." Marty said with a confident smile, and that earned one from Ash.

"That's one thing I like about you Marty, you're always confident." Ash said as Ish, Troy and Tua entered the room, and took their seats.

"Am I the only one who's still sore from last night?" Troy asked as he rubbed a sore spot in the middle of his back.

"Your not the only one, I've still got a headache." Marty said as he rubbed his forehead.

"Last night was brutal, we rarely got our butts kicked, if anything, last night was a wake-up call, I'm suggesting we all hit the simulator when we go to the HOK later." Ish said, which earned a head nod from everyone.

"I'll be back guys, forgot my science book." Ash said as she realized she had left her science text book in her locker, and stood up from the table in order to retrieve it.

* * *

"There you are you little devil." Ash joked to herself as she pulled the book out of her locker and turned to head back to the lunchroom, only to be confronted by two very familiar kids, Keith and Jacob.

"Oh my gosh, where have you guys been, everyone has been worried sick about you guys!" Ash almost yelled into the empty hallway as she gave the two of them a hug with each arm, but her gesture of kindness was not returned as the two of them exchanged a look and then Keith kicked her in the guy and Jacob pinned her down and went for her NFL-R.

"What's the deal?!" Ash shouted angrily as she managed to punch Jacob in the face and knock him off of her and then swept Keith's legs out from under him, and Ash rolled into a standing position where she took up a fighting stance.

The two boys looked at each-other and pressed a hidden button on their wrist watches and their civilian attire was replaced with black and purple armor, almost identical to the Guardians armor.

"Enter the Rush Zone!" Ash shouted quickly into her NFL-R as her civilian attire was replaced with her Guardian armor.

"I don't know what happened to you two, but let me help you." Ash almost pleaded as she made a simple gesture, in response Keith held out a single finger and a black lightning bolt erupted from his finger and struck Ash in the gut, and send her flying backwards into a pair of lockers, where she fell on her butt.

"Guys, I'm under attack, need some backup!" Ash said into her communication app of her NFL-R, but she received no response from Ish and her friends in the lunch room.

"We are jamming your communications," Keith said with a low dark tone, that sent a shiver down Ash's spine, "Endgame want's us to send a message, she knows who you are, and she sends her love." Keith said as he prepared to shoot another lightning bolt into Ash, when their was a loud bang and Jacob was tackled back into a pair of lockers.

"You talk to much," Joseph taunted as he raised his NFL-R, "Enter the Rush Zone!" Joseph yelled as his clothing was replaced by his red and black Guardian armor.

"Who are these clowns?" Joseph asked as he threw a right hook at the armor wearing individual nearest to him.

"Keith and Jacob," Ash responded as she managed to spring to her feet and kick Keith in the face, and she took up a fighting stance, "remember the missing kids I told you about a few months ago, well here they are." Ash informed the rookie Guardian.

"Looks they are not missing anymore," Joseph said as he dodged a lightning blast from Jacob and fired back with an energy blast of his own, which bounced off the purple and black armor, not even making a dent, "that ain't good." Joseph said nervously as he began diving and weaving around a series of rapid fire lightning bolts, until one hit his knees mid jump, and his bad right knee buckled from the attack, ruining his jump and the attack he had been planning, as he crumpled tot he ground clutching his injured knee.

"CB7!" Ash cried out in concern as the noise of the battle had resulted in kids streaming out of the lunch room and the classrooms, and Ash had very wisely used Joseph's call sign, but Ash knew the crowd gathering would alert the other Guardians in the building, at least she hoped. Suddenly a lightning bolt caught her right below her ribs and she clutched her chest, as Keith ran forward and tackled her through a wall that led to a classroom, and she laid their on the floor next to a desk.

"Die, Guardian!" Keith snarled as he raised his fists in front of him and prepared a full power attack, but suddenly Joseph tackled him and pinned him through the wall.

"Copy Cat: Freight Train Force!" Joseph yelled as he copied Ish's ability and ran Keith through the wall and kept running until he had plowed through every wall in his way and soon they found themselves outside the school.

"Had enough?!" Joseph snarled as he stood over Keith, who raised his hands to shoot an energy blast at the rookie Guardian, but Joseph stomped hard on his wrist, earning a loud gasp of pain from Keith, as he pinned his wrist to the ground, and then went for his watch that controlled the armor.

However before he could, Ash was sent sailing through the wall and laid in a crippled heap, as Jacob ran outside and began firing streams of lightning into her armor, resulting in her flopping around like a fish out of water.

"Make your choice hero, either you can keep me pinned, or you can save her." Keith mocked, which resulted in Joseph kicking him in the head, and running over to try and block the lightning, only to result in him taking the brunt of the attack.

"Defense engage!" he yelled as his shield projected from his NFL-R and blocked the lightning, relieving Ash from the attack, as his shield slowly fought the constant stream of energy lightning as he began slowly walking towards Jacob, his shield pushing the lightning back at Jacob, and soon the shield met his finger tips and they both where thrown backwards, and both managed to back-flip into combat stances.

Suddenly Joseph heard screaming as he turned and saw Keith shooting Ash with a stream or pure black energy, which resulted in him turning his back on Jacob and run into and tackle Keith.

"I just poisoned her Guardian, she doesn't have long to live, so make your choice, fight us, or save her, actually, I'll make it easy for you since the message has been delivered." Keith said as he and Jacob turned invisible and vanished form sight, leaving Joseph to sprint over to Ash and pick her up and activate his flight app, and took flight, knowing the Hall of Knowledge had advanced healing tools, and surely they could heal whatever had poisoned her, if he could make it in time.

"Joseph... Joseph..." Ash said wearily as she barely held unto consciousness.

"Stay with me, your not doing to die!" Joseph yelled as he flew through the air and towards the Hall of Fame, and the hidden Hall of Knowledge.

"Joseph..." Ash called as her eye lids grew heavy and she closed her eyes.

"Ash, ASH!" Joseph yelled.

 **To Be Continued...**


	24. Chapter 24

**I've got a full head of steam to continue this story as frequently as possible, here is the next chapter my good friends.**

"Ash...," the red haired Guardian heard a voice call out to her as she laid there draped in darkness, "wake up Ash," she heard the same voice call out to hear, "ASH!" the voice called out to her, and she awoke with a start, her heart racing a million miles a minute, and she took in impulsive swing and hit Joseph in his armored face.

"Joseph, what-?" she never got to finish due as a wave of nausea over came her and she leaned over and threw up over the side of the hard-light bed.

"You OK?" Joseph asked after she had finished vomiting.

"What hit me?" she asked weakly

"Keith and Jacob," Joseph answered as his left hand curled into a fist that went unnoticed by Ash, but not by RZ, but he choose to not address it, "they got away after they poisoned you, do you remember anything?" Joseph asked in a concerned tone.

"Barely, I remember being electrocuted by Keith, and then hit with some kind of weird black energy, and then, nothing." Ash said weakly.

"Ash, that energy is something we've never encountered before," RZ said as he looked over the injured Guardian, "it's done something to you-." RZ said as Ash interrupted him.

"'Done something to you,' what the heck does that mean?" she asked.

"It's hard to explain, but the poison didn't really affect you physically, but your brain waves are acting like I've never seen before, and for that reason I'm keeping you overnight, I want to make sure you are alright before you go home." RZ said in a calm and caring tone, as Ash nodded silently and closed her eyes, be it still listening to every word that was about to be said.

Before Ash could answer, Ish and the rest of the team entered through the hidden entrance to the HOK, and sprinted to Ash's side.

"Ash are you alright?" they all seemingly asked at once, to which she nodded, be it weakly.

"She'll need her rest, I'd suggest you all go home and get some rest." RZ said, which earned head nods from everyone.

* * *

Lightning flashes across the pitch black night sky as thunder erupts and rain pours from the blackened clouds. Screams fill the night air, screams of pain and agony piercing the silence of the stormy night followed by maniacal laughter.

I stand in the rain with blood covering my armor, blood of the ones that stood in my way and who shall no longer be a thorn in my side.

I chuckle darkly as I look down at my handy work, the bodies of my so-called friends lay sprawled on the cold and wet ground. The crimson blood flows from their now lifeless bodies flows out of them and onto the ground, mixing with the rain that poured down.

The sound of groaning catches my attention as I turn around and see him trying to crawl away to safety as he held his injured side.

'Ish' I thought to myself bitterly as I made my way over to him.

Seeing me approach, he is now desperately trying to get away. I laugh at his meek attempts of trying to escape from my wrath.

"Please... please stop this... please" he begs as I stand over him "Have mercy"

My eyes narrowed and darkened at his pleading, I won't stop; not when I've come so far "I'm afraid it's too late..." I say to him as I pick him up by his neck and began to squeeze tightly.

He tries to break free from my grip around his neck, but it's useless as he makes gagging sounds and his face turns red "Goodbye" I say before I snap his neck in one swift motion. His body then goes limp as I toss it to the ground next to the rest of the lifeless bodies.

I let out a dark laugh at my victory, but then I see my reflection in the bloody puddle on the ground and my eyes wide. I scream at my reflection seeing the blood covering my body.

"ASH!"

* * *

Ash awoke with a start, cold sweat running down her face as she bolted up right on the hard light bed where she had been sleeping, "Ash, you alright." RZ asked as he noticed that she was now awake.

"I don't think so, RZ," Ash began, and that earned her leaders undivided attention, "I don't feel so good." she said as she stood up and tried to walk, only to fall to one knee.

"Ash, you've got to rest-." RZ said, before Ash spoke up and interrupted.

"You said my brain waves where acting weird, how are they now?" Ash asked as sweat continued to run down her face.

"Let me check," RZ said as he pulled up a holographic display of the red headed Guardian, "your brain waves are still acting abnormally." RZ answered as he looked over hr brain waves.

"How long have I been asleep?" she asked in a whisper that RZ heard clearly.

"About five hours, it's a little after 2:00 AM," RZ said calmly, "how is this relevant?" he asked sincerely.

"Check my brain waves over the past five hours." Ash requested, and pulled up the information of the past five hours, and what he saw honestly surprised him.

"Ash, your brain waves are off the chart, and not in a good way," RZ said simply as he looked over all the data, "I don't know what could possibly be causing this." RZ said as he kept looking over all the data.

"If it helps, I was having horrible nightmares, and I mean horrible, they almost seemed prophetic." Ash said in a whisper.

"Ash, what did you see?" RZ asked in a caring tone.

"I don't want to say," Ash said as she took a seat on her bed, "RZ, is there any way you can sedate me, that way I don't dream?" Ash asked her leader.

"I hate to sedate you Ash, but I will do it if it helps you." RZ said simply as he prepared a painless brain beam that would put the female Guardian into a deep dreamless sleep, and within a few seconds of being bathed in it's warm blue light, the female Guardian was in a deep dreamless sleep.

 **I want to thank my amazing girlfriend AliE96 for writing that** **amazing dream sequence, thank you Angel**


	25. Chapter 25

"Alright listen up team, today we take on the Cyclones, they are 2-2, we are sitting at 4-0 right now, but don't take the Cyclones for granted, both of their loses where by less than a touchdown, they've been in every game, especially since they added a new Quarterback, Aaron Slade, this kid is sick, he's deadly accurate on short throws, and has a very quick release, however he tends to freeze up if things start to go badly, so hit him hard, and hit him often."

"Let's hope today goes better than last week." Joseph said as he adjusted his white number 26 jersey.

"What do you mean, we won easily last week?" Troy asked as he took a seat on the bench next to his teammate.

"Wasn't talking about the game..." Joseph said in a low whisper that only Troy could hear, and he knew what the rookie Guardian was talking about, their dismantling by this new threat.

"Joseph, we weren't prepared, whatever it was caught us off guard, but next time, we'll kick it's butt." Troy said in a confident whisper as he gave his friend and teammate a slap on the shoulder pads, which made Joseph smile as Ish and Tua walked towards the bench after going to mid-field for the coin toss.

"They won the toss, they are going on offense." Ish said as he and Tua took a seat on the bench.

"Good, cant wait to see my former teammates on the field, make them realize they shouldn't have cut me when I still have so much gas left in the tank." Joseph said as he stood up and started stretching his legs, as Ash and their special teams unit kicked off the ball and it went end over end into the endzone where the Cyclones return man took a knee, and their offense jogged unto the field, while Joseph, Carlos and Marty as well as the rest of the defense jogged unto the field for the Bulldogs.

"I'm coming for you, Slade!" Joseph yelled as he tried to get in the young QB's head, but to his surprise Aaron raised his head and smiled at Joseph, and that surprised the young defensive back.

"Blue 20, blue 20 hut!" Aaron yelled as he took the snap from under center and dropped back as Carlos was trying to get to him, but was being blocked by both the left guard and tackle, which prevented 'The Wall' from getting to his target as Aaron fired a dart in between Marty and the Bulldogs Free Safety and his receiver caught it for a gain of 17 yards before being tackled by the teams strong safety.

"Carlos, I've trained with all the receivers last season, they will make good catches if the ball is on target, they are that good, you've got to get to Aaron, I have a sense he's going to tear us up if he gets all day to throw the ball!" Joseph said in an urgent tone in the defensive huddle, which resulted in a silent thumbs up from Carlos as they took their positions again.

Aaron took the next snap from the shotgun formation and looked to Joseph's side of the field and made a throwing motion, which got Joseph to react, but that proved to be what Aaron was looking for as he had merely done a pump fake and fired it back to the middle with such speed that it went over their strong safety's head for a 23 yard pickup, and another first down.

"This is going to be a long day." Joseph said with a sigh as the Cyclones went no huddle and quickly got back to the line and ran another play, as the Cyclones left side wide receiver ran past the Bulldogs defensive back and ran into the end-zone for an easy touchdown, giving the Cyclones a 7-0 lead.

* * *

"He's getting to much time to throw the ball, we're going to get some one on ones, we've got to get to the Quarterback!" Joseph yelled at his fellow defensive players as they sat on the bench. After the Cyclones first score, Ish and the offense had managed to put together a couple of scoring drives, but Aaron and the Cyclones had matched them punch for punch, and it was 21-21 at the start of the second half.

"We're doing our best Joseph, but he's got among the quickest releases I've ever seen, he lets it go as soon we get close to him!" Carlos yelled back in frustration as he thought about his inability to get to the QB.

"Guys, calm down," Ish said as he walked over to the defensive players from his meeting with the offensive coaches, "I've noticed he's throwing short passes 90 percent of the time, he's only 1-4 on deep passes, plus he's rolling out to the right where he's most dangerous, so here's the plan..." Ish said as he leaned in and whispered the plan to the defensive players.

The Cyclones and Bulldogs units took their positions as Aaron took a look at the defensive players, keeping an eye on number 72, for he had almost got him a few times, but to his surprise he didn't see him, as he kept looking for him, "Clock!" his center yelled as Aaron realized he had only ten seconds left to call the play.

"Set hut!" Aaron yelled as he took the snap and rolled out to his right only to see a white number 72 Jersey crash through the line and wrap him up at his waist and drive him to the ground, and to make matters worse, the ball came loose, and Joseph fell on it, to give the Bulldogs possession of the ball at the Cyclones 18 yard line.

"That's what I'm talking about baby!" Joseph yelled as he handed the ball to the ref as the defense jogged off the field, and upon looking back he noticed Aaron calmly walk to his sideline, but he was keeping his head down, and Joseph could only imagine what the young Quarterback was thinking as he took his seat on the bench.

"I must say," Carlos said as he took his seat, "Ish is taking a page out of Jim Johnson's defense form the '04 NFC Championship game where Johnson switched his Defensive Ends, and put Jevon Kearse on the right side, and it allowed him to keep old Michael Vick from escaping to his left, where the Quarterback was most dangerous, now that I'm on the left, it allows me to keep Aaron from rolling out to his right where he's most dangerous, it's genius man." Carlos said with a smile as he and Joseph slapped high fives.

"What works in the NFL sometimes works here as well, and no we'll be all over them like a bad haircut." Joseph joked, which earned a laugh from Marty as he took a seat on the bench and let his backup come in as running back.

* * *

"That was a good win today." Marty said as he reclined in his seat at the bowing alley, "once we adjusted on defense, they never came close to scoring again." Marty joked as Joseph spared his frame of bowling.

"It wont be that easy all season." Ish said with a sigh, and it was obvious to the other Guardians what was going through the mind of the African-American Guardian.

"Ish, you can't blame yourself for what happened to Ash, if anyone is to blame it's me." Joseph said as he took a seat next to his best friend.

"It's not your fault Joseph, I should have been there to help." Ish sighed as he took a slice of pizza from off the table in front of them and took a small bite.

"I did all I could, and yet it wasn't enough, I failed her, Ish." Joseph said sadly, and Ish put a hand on his shoulder.

"You did everything you could, you actually defended her, and got her to the HOK in time, you saved her life." Ish said in a small whisper as he mentioned the HOK, since the bowling alley wasn't that busy today, and their conversation could be possibly overheard.

"If I had gotten their earlier, Keith and Jacob wouldn't have gotten the drop on her, and I might have been able to prevent them from poisoning her." Joseph said with a defeated sigh.

"Dude, you cant blame yourself, we where the ones who couldn't find a safe place to armor up, so all we could do was watch." Troy said in his own sad tone as all five of their NFL-R's started beeping, indicating an incoming message from RZ.

"Guardians, please report to the Hall of Knowledge at once for an emergency meeting." RZ requested as all five of them stood up and quickly made their way out of the bowling alley, and towards the HOK.

* * *

"Guardians, I'm sorry to bother you after your game, but I'm afraid this cannot wait." RZ said as they entered the HOK and Ash sitting on her bed, and Ricky standing there, be it with his right arm in a sling, and that surprised everyone.

"Got injured today, Ricky?" Troy asked with a sly smile, and to his surprise, RZ answered.

"No Troy, Ricky was attacked before his game by Keith and Jacob, while he managed to fight them off, they broke his arm in the process." RZ said sadly, and that earned a grimace from Ricky.

"What is with all these attacks, first Ash and Joseph, and now Ricky." Marty said as he tried to take it all in.

"I think this is a message, a message we can be attacked whenever, by whatever the heck this new threat is." Ish said with a tired sigh.

"Endgame," Ash said out of nowhere, and they all turned and looked at her with much surprise, RZ included, "Keith said to me, 'Endgame sends her love,'" Ash informed her teammates, "I'm guessing Endgame is the one responsible for Keith and Jacob's kidnapping and brainwashing, and also is who we faced in New England." Ash said.

"Endgame, I don't like the sound of her name," Marty joked, and it earned a scowl from everyone, since this wasn't a joking matter, "sorry." he apologized quickly.

"Did you say, Endgame?" Swoop, the Eagles Rusher asked as he entered the HOK.

"Yea, I did," Ash answered simply, and that earned a sharp inhale from Swoop, "you know her?" Ash asked Swoop.

"Nope, just making sure I heard you correctly." Swoop replied as he gave a hand gesture to the Patriots Rusher, Freedom, and they quickly left the room and into a side room, which went unnoticed by the Guardians and RZ, but unfortunately they had bigger problems to worry about, they just didn't know it yet...

* * *

' _It's time to begin phase two of the operation.'_ Endgame mused as she activated Keith and Jacobs stasis pods and within minutes they where standing before their master, as Endgame was currently hacking the passageway that lead to the Hall of Knowledge, and once she was done, she looked down from her throne at her Nega Guardians, "attack the Hall Of Knowledge at my signal, aim for maximum damage, I'll make sure they are not at full strength." Endgame ordered as she left her throne and headed for a pod that would take her to her target location...

* * *

"Am I the only one who felt chills when Ash mentioned the name, Endgame?" Marty whispered as he and three of his friends could be found back at the bowling alley after their emergency meeting with RZ.

"Not going to lie, I also felt chills." Tua said as he took his seat next to Marty after finishing his frame of bowling.

Before anyone else could speak up, they hard screaming and people started to flee, and upon running to the entrance they spotted a very familiar looking female robotic lady firing energy blasts at the parked cars, destroying them all in one blast.

"We've got to armor up." Ish said as they ran into the bathroom and locked the door behind them.

"Enter the Rush Zone!" they all shouted as their civilian attire was replaced with their Guardian Armor, and they ran outside to face their foe.

"Took you long enough, I was waiting for an actual challenge." Endgame mocked as she cracked her robotic knuckles.

"Unlike cars, we actually fight back." Marty joked as he fired an energy blast at Endgame, but she easily sidestepped the attack, and raised her right hand and fired lighting bolts at all three of them.

"RZ, we are under attack at the Bulldog, can you send backup!?" Ish yelled into his communication app as he front flipped over the lightning bolt and ran at Endgame, only for her to swat him like a fly and send him flying through the air where he flew and crashed thought the windshield of a parked car.

"Humans are predictable creatures." Endgame joked as she raised her left hand and a hole opened in the middle of it, and a jet black smoke emanated from it and the battlefield was covered in jet black smoke, and due to Endgame's armor color, she was able to blend into the smoke...

"This could be a problem!" Tua shouted as he and Marty began firing rapid fire energy blasts into the smoke in an attempt to strike Endgame, unaware of the real threat...

* * *

"Guardians, Ish, Tua and Marty are under attack at the Bulldog, I need you there at-." RZ never got to finish due the passage way opening inside the Hall of Knowledge and two very familiar armored kids emerged, well at least familiar to Ash, Joseph and Ricky.

"Enter the Rush Zone!" the three other Guardians shouted as they where soon armored up and ready to fight Keith and Jacob...

 **To be continued...**


	26. Chapter 26

"How'd you get in here?" Ash snarled as she took up a fighting stance, Joseph and Troy following suit, as Ricky hid in the shadows, his broken arm preventing him from joining the fight.

"Endgame is capable of anything, as you will soon find out, especially you Ashley Reynolds." Keith mocked as he fired a lightning bolt at the trio, only to have Ash and Troy run forward and slide under the attack, as Joseph ran forward and front flipped over it, delivering a powerful dive kick to Keith chest, and sent him flying backwards and unto the passageway entrance to that lead to Arizona, and Keith activated it and jumped into it, and Jospeh followed suit, taking his battle with Keith to Arizona, leaving Ash and Troy behind.

"Looks like your down a man, it's now two on one, you still want to fight?" Troy mocked as he prepared an energy blast for Jacob.

"I can still take you both!" Jacob snarled as she shot a rapid fire series of lightning bolts at Troy and Ash, which made them dance around all the incoming fire, and occasionally fired back with an energy blast of their own.

"Keep dancing all you want, your luck will eventually run out." Jacob mocked as he picked a spot and fired a lightning bolt at where Troy was about to be, and struck him in the chest, and Troy dropped to one knee.

"Troy, you'll pay for that," Ash roared as she leapt at Jacob, "Super Kick!" Ash yelled as a swirling ball of energy formed on her right foot and she kicked it at Jacob, her aim was true as it struck him in the face and he was knocked backwards, but the attack didn't phase him for long.

"Nice try Guardian, but I'm just getting warmed up!" Jacob snarled as he clapped is hands together and a purple shock-wave erupted from his hands and it crashed into Ash, and sent her sailing backwards where she crashed into a wall, and lay there groaning in pain.

"We've already poisoned you once, I wonder how you'll take a second dose!" Jacob laughed darkly as a black aura formed on his right hand, and he prepared to finish off the female Guardian, only for Troy to grab him by his waist and supplex him to the ground, and Troy rolled into a fighting stance.

"Impressive, I actually felt that," Jacob mocked as he took up a karate stance, "but not impressive enough." he said as he raised both fists and fired a purple energy beam that struck Troy in the face as he tried to activate his shield, and Troy went down like a sack of bricks.

"Foolish Guardian, Ash barely survived the poison, let's test your breaking point." Jacob mocked as the same black aura formed on his right hand and he approached Troy and prepared to poison the Korean-American Guardian, but before he could, the passageway to Arizona opened and Joseph walked into the HOK.

"Did you miss me?" Joseph asked as he tossed Keith's unconscious body to the floor and began walking towards Jacob, and the two began circling around each-other.

"You can't beat me." Jacob mocked.

"That was when you had help before, you don't have help this time." Joseph snarled as the two ran at each-other, and drew back their right fists, and the attacks collided...

* * *

"Tua, you alright?" Ish asked as he knelled down next to Tua, who could be found laying on the ground, after being thrown back into a semi truck by Endgame.

"I'll live." Tua whispered as he tried to stand, only to fall back towards the ground.

"Stay down Tua, Marty and I will take care of her." Ish said as Marty was sent flying backwards and collided with Ish, who then collided with Tua, as all three of them laid there in a heap.

"You three are no challenge." Endgame laughed as she picked up an abandoned parked car and prepared to throw it at the Guardians, only for Ish to rise with surprising speed and fire an energy blast that hit he cars gas tank, exploding it instantly, and covering Endgame in a raging fireball, and Ish dropped to one knee to catch his breath, only for a lightning bolt to come flying from the raging inferno and striking him in the chest and sent him flying backwards into another parked car, as Endgame walked from the inferno, without a scratch on her metal body.

Suddenly her wrist began beeping and she pressed a hidden button, "Report." she ordered Jacob.

"Message has been delivered, ready to pull out." Jacob reported, and that made Endgame smile as she cut the communication line, threw a smoke bomb unto the ground and diapered into the smoke.

* * *

"I'm getting really tired of getting my butt kicked." Joseph moaned as he lay there on a hard light bed in the HOK, his friends on their own individual bed, being observed for their injuries, for Ish, Tua and Marty had arrived from the bowling alley, and had limped their way unto their hard light beds.

"Your not the only one," Ish moaned as the tables holographic display showed his vitals, and his heartbeat was steadily accelerating as he thought about the beardown he had endured again by Endgame, "there has got to be a way to beat her, there had to be, isn't there?" Ish asked as a jolt of pain went shooting through his whole body, and he let out a hiss of pain.

"Guardians, I am currently analyzing the footage from both battles, and am working on a way to upgrade the safe zone, so that Endgame can no longer come into Canton at will," RZ said as a holographic display appeared before him, and he began making some quick calculations, "but until the Safe Zone has been upgraded, I want you all on full alert, I'm allowing you to all go home for the night, but keep your communication app on at all times, we must be ready in the event of another attack." RZ said wisely, and that earned head nods from all of his Guardians.

"RZ, I'd like to stay at the HOK," Ash said, and the surprised everyone, "every time I fall asleep I have terrible nightmares, only when you use that brain beam on me am I able to get a peaceful night sleep, so can I please stay here?" Ash asked her leader.

"Ash, as much as I want to allow that, your father and step-mother surely miss you," RZ began and that earned a sad sigh from Ash, "however in my spare time I have developed a medicine that should hopefully counteract the effects of the poison, make sure you take one pill at night before you go to sleep, and please let me know when you need more, before you run out." RZ said in a joking manner, and that made the red haired Guardian smile for the first time in hours.

* * *

"Ashley, are you alright?" Ash's father Charles asked as soon as Ash walked in th front door of her house.

"Depends on how you define 'fine.'" Ash joked as she took a seat on the couch, as her father adjusted his glasses and took a seat next to her.

"I saw the fight from New England, how are you?" Charles asked his daughter in a concerned tone.

"I'll live, not the first time I've gotten my butt kicked." Ash joked, which earned a smile from Charles, but that faded when he noticed the pill bottle in her left hand, and Ash could see where his gaze lied.

"It's nothing, just a preventative measure-." Ash began as Charles raised a hand to silence his daughter.

"A preventative measure for what, are you injured?" Charles asked in a now concerned tone.

"Not physically," Ash began, and with a sigh she decided to explain, "the new threat is named Endgame, and she did something to me, but like I said, she did something to me mentally, and this medicine will hopefully counter whatever she did to me." Ash said cautiously, making sure to leave out the fact that Endgame had poisoned her.

"Make sure you take it then." Charles said in a serious tone as he left the room, as Ash left the couch and went up to her room, and sat on her bed, and laid down, just staring at the season, and without meaning to, she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

'Not this place... not again'

The familiar dark surroundings went as far as the eye can see and the eerie almost deafening silence filled the air. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of her heavy breathing and her heart beating against her rib cage.

She was surrounded one again by the deceased bodies of her former friends. Necks bent at odd angles, bones breaking through the skin allowing blood to flow out, spines snapped and a burned body with smoke emanating from it.

'How did this happen?' Ash thought to herself.

"You did this..." an unknown voice whispered in her ear.

"What?"

"It was you... you killed them"

"No... No, I wouldn't..."

"But you did"

"Who are you?!" she demanded "Why are you doing this?"

"I did nothing... this is all your doing"

"It can't be"

"But it is... look"

Suddenly, a mirror appeared in front of her and she didn't recognize her own reflection. Her uniform was once again covered in blood, but her mask/helmet was gone revealing her blood covered face. She gasped in horror at the sight of herself, seeing blood; her friends blood covering her face along with every inch of her body.

"No... this is impossible"

"It is very possible..."

"you killed them..."

"all of them..."

"Your closest friends"

"NO!"

* * *

Ash awoke with a start, sweat one again running down her face, and her heart racing a million miles a minute as her dad burst into the room.

"Ash, what's wrong?!" Charles asked his daughter.

"I don't know." Ash said as she clutched her chest, as he chest was filled with pain, and that made her dad put a hand on her shoulder.

"I think I should take you to the hospital." Charles suggested.

"No!" Ash suddenly yelled, and that surprised them both, as unseen to Charles, Ash's eyes turned purple for just a millisecond.

"I'll be fine," Ash said as she composed herself, "I didn't mean to fall asleep, I just forgot to take my medicine." Ash said as her father exited the room, leaving Ash to ponder the sudden out burst of anger, as she sat their on her bed, unaware of the true danger she was in...

 **I once again want to give credit to my amazing girlfriend for writing that nightmare scene, also I'd like your opinion, what do you think is going on with Ash?**


	27. Chapter 27

"Ash, can you come down here for a minute?" Charles called Ash from downstairs in their home, and with a sigh Ash stood up from her bed and slowly made her way down stairs, with her head hung low, and upon entering the living room she saw Ish sitting there on the couch.

"Hey Ash, thought you could use some company." Ish said with a big smile as Ash took a seat on the couch next to him.

"I don't know Ish, I'd almost rather be alone." Ash said sadly, and that earned a frown from Ash.

"Ash what's going on?" Ish asked in a concerned tone as Charles left the room to start working on dinner with Ash's step-mom.

"I don't want to talk about it ." Ash said in a low pain filled whisper, that Ish heard clearly.

"Ash, you can trust me, I want to help you." Ish said with a smile as he put a hand on her shoulder, and that made Ash raise her head and look at him, and a small smile emerged on her formally depressed face.

"Thanks Ish." Ash said simply.

"Should we go somewhere more private?" Ish asked his best friend, and with a sigh, Ash and Ish stood up and waled up to he room, making sure to leave the door open a crack.

"Ish, I haven't felt right since I've been poisoned, I've been having... dreams." Ash said in slow tone.

"What kind of dreams have you ben having?" Ish asked in a concerned tone.

"They almost seem prophetic," Ash began with a sigh, "I'm seeing things I can't un-see." Ash said with a sad sigh.

"Ash," Ish said slowly as he put a hand on her shoulder, "what have you seen?" he asked his best friend.

Ash hesitated for a few seconds, but she trusted Ish, he had trusted her when no one else had, she had deep rooted feelings for him, if she could trust anyone with this secret, it would be Ish.

"Ish, I had a dream where... I killed everyone." Ash said in a pained tone, and that earned a confused look from Ish.

"What do you mean you killed everyone?" Ish asked her.

"I killed everyone on the team, I slaughtered them like cattle." Ash said as a tear escaped from her green eyes, and that earned a brief shocked look from Ish, but it was almost instantly gone and replaced with a concerned look.

"You killed everyone in your dream-." Ish began before Ash interrupted.

"Ish, in the dream you begged for mercy, but I didn't care, I felt this hatred for you, and I...I snapped your neck and killed you." Ash said as she finally broke down and began to cry, letting Ish see all the raw emotional pain she was going through, and it almost broke his heart.

"Ash, I'm so sorry, no one should go what you've gone through." Ish said as he took a risk and wrapped her up in his arms, giving her a soft hug, while it did help, the comforting feeling did not last long.

"Ish, I keep seeing horrible visions every time I fall asleep, I cant take it much longer." Ash said as she kept crying, and that made Ish ponder for a moment.

"Ash, I thought RZ gave you medicine for that?" Ish asked his best friend.

"He did," Ash began as she composed herself for a minute, "I fell asleep on accident earlier, and I had another horrible nightmare, I saw myself killing the team again, but this time I was aware of what I was doing, I didn't want to, but I couldn't stop it." Ash said in a pain filled whisper, leaving out the voice that she had heard in the dream, as she didn't want to alarm her best friend.

"Ash, I've known you for a long time, and I know you would never willingly do this." Ish said as he tried to comfort the red haired Guardian.

"Ish, you don't understand, I saw you die, I felt your neck break as I snapped it, I literally thought I had gone to far to stop." Ash said as she could no longer compose herself and she broke down again, and Ish wrapped her up in a hug again, but this time she hugged him back, which surprised Ish, but then again, with what state she was in, he wasn't really surprised, as unknown to Ash, Ish had unknowingly kept his communication app on, and RZ, as well as the other Guardians had overheard every word.

* * *

"OK, I am officially freaked out." Marty said as he sat on his bed at the HOK.

"Guardians, I ask you not to judge Ash, she has been poisoned after all, and we don't know what this poison is doing to her, her dreams are not the real Ash." RZ said wisely.

"I agree with RZ," Joseph began as he paused to take a breath, "I've only known Ash a few months, but I can tell you, what she's seeing in her dreams is not going to happen, it just can't, it's not who she is." Joseph comforted his fellow Guardians, and his words calmed them down, be it very slightly.

 **I'm sorry it's short, but next chapter has a fight, a very good fight.**


	28. Chapter 28

_'She is so weak, so vulnerable, it's almost bliss for me,'_ Endgame mused as she sat plugged into her throne feeding off all the negative energy that Ash was feeling this very moment, _'but there is no time for peace in war,'_ Endgame mused as she detached from her throne and began pacing back in forth in front of her throne, _'I could send my Nega Guardians after her right now, and feed off of the energy,_ ' she thought as she thought about activating their stasis pods, but then a wicked thought came to her robotic mind, _'I think I'll go there myself, might as well take advantage of the non-effective 'Safe Zone' before they find a way to keep me out, plus I can manipulate her more if I attack her myself.'_ Endgame mused as she made her way to the pod that would take her to Ash's location.

* * *

"Ash dinner is ready." Ash's step mom, Linda called from the kitchen, and that made Ash perk up.

"You want to stay for dinner Ish?" Ash asked her best friend, who nodded his head.

"I'd love to, what's on the menu?" Ish asked in a joking manner as Charles and Linda walked into the room, and heard Ish's question.

"Steak and baked potatoes." Charles answered as Ash and Ish stood up and went to the dinner table and took a seat, and after a few seconds, they began filling their plates.

"Tastes great, thank you Mr. Reynolds." Ish said as he took a bit from his steak.

Suddenly Ash felt overcome by a wave of sadness and she could barely contain it, as she pretended to sneeze so she could cover her face with her napkin, while secretly wiping some tears from her face.

 _'What is going on?'_ she asked herself, and to her shock, something answered.

 _'Come outside and find out for yourself.'_ the same voice from her dream called out, as Ash stood up and ran outside, much to her parents and friends surprise, and to her surprise, she saw a robotic metal lady standing outside in the middle of the street.

"Hello Ashley Reynolds, surprised to see me?" Endgame questioned in an almost sincere tone.

"I'd be lying if I said no," Ash snarled as she raised her NFL-R, "Enter the Rush Zone!" she shouted as her clothes where replaced with her Guardian armor.

"So ready to fight, that's music to my ears, or at least it would be, if I had biological ears anymore." Endgame taunted as she cracked her mechanical knuckles, and the two proceeded to have a temporary stare off as Ish and Ash's parents ran outside and spotted Endgame.

"Ash, get back inside!" Charles ordered his daughter in a scared, yet protective tone.

"Dad, Linda, run!" Ash shouted in response as Endgame averted her gaze from Ash to her parents.

"Your parents," Endgame began in an evil tone, "you couldn't save yourself, let's see if you can save them." Endgame mocked as she raised her hand and fired a lightning bolt from two fingers and they tore through the air towards her parents, only for Ish to dive in the way and take both lightning bolts, and due to not having his armor on, he was out like a light as soon as the bolts stuck his chest.

"Ish!" Ash shouted in fear and rage as she turned back to Endgame, rage overtaking her, rage she had never felt before.

"I can taste your rage Ashley, it's so sweet." Endgame said in an almost blissful tone as she stared down Ash.

"I'm going to send you to the scrap-yard," Ash roared as she jumped into the air, "Super Stomp!" she yelled as she brought her foot down, and the shock wave ripped the ground apart as it made it's way towards Endgame, who jumped into the air with surprising speed and front flipped over the attack and landed a powerful dive kick to Ash's face, and sent her flying back and crash into the tree that resided in her front yard, and Ash was seeing stars.

Suddenly police sirens tore through the sounds of battle and police cars rolled up, and officers armed with hand guns and shotguns stepped out of their cars, "Step away from the Guardian you metal piece of junk!" the lead officer ordered as he raised his handgun and took aim.

"Be gone!" Endgame snarled as she clapped her hands together and a wave of purple energy struck the police officers and their vehicles and sent them flying, but in the brief moment she had taken her eyes off of the female Guardian, Ash had risen and was now firing energy blast after energy blast at Endgame, but the attacks seemed to just bounce off of Endgame's armored body.

"Your anger fuels me." Endgame mocked as she stood their as Ash kept getting angrier with every second.

"Oh your hungry, then eat this!" a new voice called out as Marty appeared in front of Endgame using his teleportation ability, and fired at her with an energy beam, that struck Endgame in her face, and to their surprise it actually sent her staggering backwards for a moment.

"Impressive," Endgame began after the attack subsided, "I actually felt that," she complimented as she fired a lightning bolt at Marty, who teleported to the side of the attack, "your bravery to save your friend is admirable, but foolish." Endgame snarled as Marty tried to teleport behind Endgame, but she had predicted the attack, and turned around like a viper and grabbed him by his throat and pinned him down on the concrete.

"You... STAY AWAY FROM MY FRIENDS!" Ash roared in rage as unknown to everyone, her self included her eyes turned full purple as she lunged at Endgame, and delivered a kick to the back of her head, which made Endgame stagger backwards and fall to the ground, as Ash jumped on top of her, and began punching her skull like face mercilessly, and after a few seconds to her surprise, Endgame began to laugh as she swatted Ash off of her and pinned her to the ground, as unknown to Ash, she was feeding off of all the hatred she was feeling at this moment.

"I could kill you right now, Ashley Reynolds," Endgame mocked as Ash tried to free herself, "but I have bigger plans for you, so I'll keep you alive... for now..." Endgame whispered as she punched Ash in the face so hard that it deactivated her armor, and sent her into unconsciousness, as Endgame cloaked herself, and vanished from sight.

"RZ, Ish and Ash are badly injured, I'm bringing them to the HOK." Marty said with a moan as he stood up, and ignoring the throbbing pain in his throat he gently picked up Ash, and then Ish and slung them over his shoulders, and teleported away...


	29. Chapter 29

**I want to apologize for the delay in between updates as I was ill and could not focus, but here is a chapter my good friends.**

 **I also want to thank my amazing girlfriend AliE96 for once again writing this amazing nightmare scene, thanks Angel.**

 _"What is going on? Why does this keep happening?"_

 _Ash once again found herself surrounded by the mutilated bodies of friends that were place in a circle around her._

 _"I don't understand, what's going on? Why is this happening?!" Ash began to freak out._

 _"It's happening because you made it happen" the mysterious voice whispered to her._

 _"Who are you? What are you? What do you want?!" Ash demanded._

 _"Silly child..." the voice chuckled darkly._

 _"Why are you doing this? Why me?" Ash cried into the air._

 _"Because... you have a darkness inside you that you can not escape from" the voice spoke._

 _"No... no I don't! I have a good heart, I do!" Ash shouted._

 _"Humph... that shows just how little you know about yourself, child" the voice said "The darkness is inside you and you never be able to escape it"_

 _"No...no" Ash denied as she covered her ears._

 _"Your own darkness is your own undoing..."_

 _"No..."_

 _"And the key to destroying your pathetic friends"_

 _"SHUT UP!" Ash screams "Shut up, shut up! I don't wanna hear it anymore!" she screamed with her hands on her head._

 _"SILENCE!" The voice shouts just as blood falls out of the sky and onto Ash, covering her in the crimson liquid._

 _Ash lets out shaky breathes as she removes her hands from her head and looks down at them. They were covered in blood along with the rest of her body._

 _"W-Who are you? Why me? Why..." Ash asks as tears filled her eyes._

 _"You know who I am... Ashley" the voice whispered, but it sounded more clearer now._

 _Ash's eyes widened when she heard the voice and her stomach dropped when she realized who it was "...Endgame"_

 _A dark and sinister laugh echos through out the darkness of the endless void Ash is now in as everything around her begins to fade away.._

* * *

Ash awoke with a start, her heart beating against her rib cage, as she jolted up right on her hard light bed.

"Where is she?!" Ash nearly yelled as she looked around in a panicked tone, only for her nervousness to fade when she noticed that she was in the HOK, and was safe from Endgame, well as safe as she could be.

"Hey Ash," Marty said softly a s he walked up to her bed, "How are you feeling?" the Jewish Guardian asked his friend.

"I feel like I got hit by a truck, how is... Ish, how is Ish!?" Ash asked in a panicked tone as she looked to her right and saw the African American Guardian lying on his own hard light bed breathing heavy breaths.

"Ish will be fine," RZ answered before Marty could, "he'll have some burn marks on his chest for a while, but other than that he'll be back to his normal self in no time." RZ said in an optimistic tone, which made a small smile emerge on Ash's face, be it very briefly.

Suddenly arguing voices entered the HOK as Joseph and Troy entered the HOK, and it was clear to everyone that they where in a heated argument.

"What's going on you two?" Marty asked in a rare serious tone as they walked towards Ash's bed, not taking their eyes off each-other as they continued to argue, ignoring Marty's question.

"Where is Tua and Ricky?" Ash asked Marty, as she noticed they where the only two Guardians not present in the HOK.

"They where unable to make it, due to being out and about, but needless to say, they will be listening to every word through their NFL-R." Marty explained, and that earned a head nod from Ash.

"Guardians, I'm sure you are aware of the situation that is unfolding," RZ started, and that ended the bickering between Troy and Joseph, as they stopped arguing and started listening to their leader, you have all been attacked here in Canton, and needless to say, I'm working around the clock to upgrade the Safe Zone to keep Endgame out, until then though, I want you all on high alert, we are at red alert at all times." RZ said, which caused Troy to let out a small snort, and that earned a punch in the arm from Joseph.

"What the heck is going on with you two?" Ash asked her two friends.

"Nothing." Troy said quickly.

"Really Troy, I don't call what you said to me as nothing." Joseph hissed as he folded his arms in annoyance.

"It's nothing _she_ needs to know." Troy snarled, and that shocked Ash, it felt like a slap.

"Excuse me?" she asked in an angry tone.

"You heard me." Troy said simply, and that earned a punch from Joseph, as he hit the Korean-American Guardian in his nose, and that made him fall flat on his butt.

"Troy here has come to a conclusion," Joseph began as Troy shot him a murderous look from his sitting position, "that due to your nightmares Ash, and your visions, that you might be a danger to our safety." Joseph said calmly, and that made Ash's anger start to rise, be it slowly, but then again, a volcanoes pressure starts slow, but it very quickly builds.

"How do you know about my visions, the only one who knows is... Ish?" Ash asked as she tried to think of how Ish could have revealed this secret.

"Ish didn't reveal anything, he accidentally left his communication app on, and we over heard every word, similar to how Ricky and Tua are listening in now." Joseph explained.

"I'm glad he left it on, because knowing these visions might help us be prepared." Troy hissed as he finally got back to his feet, and shot Joseph another hateful look.

"She's not going to betray us!" Joseph yelled, his anger with Troy finally reaching it's breaking point, and needless to say, Ash's was as well nearing her breaking point as she learned more information.

"Troy you honestly think I would hurt any of my friends?" Ash asked in an annoyed tone, which made Troy mumble something under her breath that she couldn't make out.

"What was that?" Joseph said as he cracked his knuckles.

"She did once," Troy spat out, and then immediately felt bad, "Ash, I didn't-." Troy said quickly as Ash's eyes once again turned purple, and that made Troy and Joseph back up sightly.

"Enter the Rush Zone!" she shouted as her armor formed around her and she stood their in her Guardian armor.

"Calm down, Ash." Joseph tried to calm down his friend.

"Oh I will calm down all right, after I teach Troy a lesson in manners." Ash said in a dark manner as she cracked her knuckles.

"I might not agree with his point of view, but I wont let you hurt him!" Joseph snarled as he raised his NFL-R, and Marty raised his as well, which went unnoticed by Ash.

"So your against me too!?" Ash yelled as she took a step towards Troy.

"Enter the Rush Zone!" Troy shouted unexpectedly as his armor engulfed his body, and he stood their in his Guardian armor as he took up a fighting stance.

"The coward and traitor has some fight in him," Ash mused as she took up her own fighting stance, "good, I want to play with my prey." Ash chuckled darkly as she lunged at Troy, as Troy jumped into the air, they drew back their right fists, and the attacks collided...

 **To be continued...**


	30. Chapter 30

Ash and Troy where thrown backwards as their attacks forced them backwards into fighting stances once again.

"Ash, Troy, knock it off!" Jospeh yelled as he got in between the two of them and held his arms out, separating the two of them.

"I tried to apologize Ash!" Troy shouted as he kept his fighting stance.

"I don't care, I'm taking you down!" Ash growled as she knocked Jospeh to the side and lunged at Troy, only for Marty to lunged through the air and tackle her mid-jump, ruing her attack, and it impressed Joseph that Marty had intervened even though he had yet to activate his armor, but no armor turned out to be the fatal flaw in his attack as Ash easily rose and picked him up, and threw him to the side, where he crashed into the wall, and lay their in a crumbled heap.

"Marty!" Joseph yelled as he ran over to his friend and offered him a hand.

"I'm fine," Mary said with a moan as he eyed the still fighting Guardians, "stop Ash." he said as he began coughing heavily, as unknown to Jospeh was the fact that Marty was coughing up blood.

"Enter the Rush Zone!" Jospeh yelled as his red and black armor covered his body, and he eyed Ash from behind his black visor, as Ash could be now found on top of Troy, punching his armored face without mercy.

"Lay off him!" Jospeh yelled as he fired an energy blast at Ash, and his aim was true as the blast struck the red-headed Guardian in the back of her head, and it forced Ash off of Troy, but she quickly rose and turned to face her new enemy.

"Ash, this isn't the real you, the real you would never attack her friends." Joseph tried appealing to her as he dodged an energy blast.

"Maybe, or maybe this is finally the real me coming out, maybe I'm sick and tired of running form anger, maybe it's time to embrace it!" Ash yelled as her eyes still glowed purple, as she ran at Jospeh.

"Reaction Time!" Joseph yelled as he activated his special ability and slowed dime time from his point of view, momentarily freezing the female Guardian in her tracks, as he used his other ability and copied Ricky's freezing abilities as he froze the water vapor in the air to create a sword made of ice within three seconds, and slashed it across Ash's chest, and sent her flying backwards just as his Reaction Time wore off, and she laid in a bloody heap, as the ice sword had managed to cut through her armor.

"Stand down Ash, give me your hand and we can end this." Jospeh offered as he walked up to her and offered her his right hand, and needless to say she took it, and then crushed his fingers with one quick squeeze, and that made Joseph scream as he clutched his crushed fingers, even though he could tell they weren't broken, he wouldn't be doing any typing anytime soon.

"Sorry rookie, but I don't play nice with wanabee's!" Ash snarled as she took out Jospeh's knee with a well aimed kick and stood over him, preparing to fire an energy blast into his armored face, when suddenly...

"Ash, that's enough." a very familiar voice called out, and Ash turned around and saw Ish standing there, he had regained consciousness during the battle, and had very wisely pretended to still be out, since he was in no condition to fight.

"It's not enough, I can't stop now, not when I've come so far!" Ash snarled as she turned away from Jospeh and turned to face her leader.

"You can stop Ash, don't give into your hate." Ish said calmly.

"Hate is such a strong word, and it grants me strength," Ash hissed as she raised her right hand and prepared to fire a full power energy blast at Ish's unarmored face, "without your armor, this blast will take your head clean off, I can already see the blood going everywhere." Ash said in an almost blissful tone.

"Ash, would you really kill your best friend?" Ish asked in a surprisingly calm tone, and that made Ash lower her fist for a second, like the question had stumped her, but she quickly raised it again.

"Your not my friend or leader anymore, you betrayed me!" Ash hissed as she prepared the energy blast.

"Ash, Endgame is using you, don't you see that, she's trying to use to destroy us, she's not powerful at all." Ish argued.

"Oh she's very powerful, for most of my life I've felt powerless, and now that I have power, I'm not going to give it up!" she snarled as her eyes continued to glow purple.

"Ash, you are easily the strongest person I know, you always have been, you had the strength and the courage to betray Sudden Death, and you also saved me when Sudden Death tried to use me as a weapon, you believed in me, and did what nobody else could do." Ish said in a calm tone, and that made Ash's eye color flicker for a moment back to Green, but they quickly went back to purple.

"I was weak, if I had known better I would have finished you then and there, saving myself the trouble of having to do it now." Ash snarled.

"Ash, you are not weak, even know your good spirit is shining through, you don't want to hurt anyone Ash, I know that deep in my heart that you don't want to hurt anyone." Ish said as Ash's eyes flickered again, but once again settled back to purple.

"Ash, Endgame cannot control your destiny, only you can do that, you don't have to be her pawn, only you can control your actions, you have a choice Ash, kill me and fully succumb to Endgame's rage and hatred, or power down and come back to us Ash, please do in your heart what you know is right, Ash, make your choice, make your choice..." Ish said as he closed his eyes, and held his hands behind his back, waiting for Ash to make her choice.

"Ish..." Ash said as he eyes flickered, but this time returned to their natural green color, and Ash powered down her armor, removed her NFL-R, and threw it across the room, so she couldn't hurt anyone in the event she lost control again.

"Ish...I'm..." Ash began as she dropped to a sitting position on the floor and began to cry, as Ish opened his eyes and went over to her and wrapped her in a hug, as Troy and Joseph powered down and went over to her and also wrapped her in hug, and Marty followed suit, as they comforted their friend, and in that moment, they where truly family, and nothing could take away this moment.


	31. Chapter 31

"We cannot blame Ash, we don't know what the poison has done to her." Ricky argued as he and the rest of the Guardians, minus Ash, could be found in the HOK, having an emergency meeting, trying to decide what should be done after Ash's violent outburst.

"Agreed, but at the same time, she's still dangerous, trust me I know." Troy said as he rubbed a sore spot on his chest where Ash had pinned him earlier.

"You made things a lot worse by opening your mouth Troy." Marty said with a serious tone.

"I apologized for that, it honestly slipped out, but in a way I guess it's a good thing, for we finally saw the full extent of the poisons power." Troy said in a serious tone.

"Perhaps," RZ began as he had been silent throughout the Guardians meeting, merely observing and listening to their conversation, but also analyzing the footage of the battle, "but as Ricky said, we don't know the full extent of Endgame's poison." RZ said wisely, as Ish and Joseph where rubbing their chins in contemplation, neither having said a word during the entire meeting, but that would not last for long as the group turned to look at the two silent Guardians.

"Ish, Joseph, what do you two think?" Marty asked his friends.

"I can see both sides of the argument," Joseph began with a sigh, "Ash might be poisoned, but she did let those emotions get the better of her, but at the same time she did gain control." Joseph said with his own serious tone.

"Ish?" Ricky asked, hoping his leader would finally join the discussion.

"I don't think he's in a mood to talk." Tua said simply as he folded his arms, and tired to think of the reasons why Ish was not joining in, and their were several options.

"If all arguments have been heard, I think it's time to vote," Troy began, and that earned a look from Ish, "Ish I'm sorry, I honestly am, but you have to acknowledge that Ash is a potential danger to all of us-." Troy began as Ash unexpectedly entered the HOK, even though she had been asked to wait outside by everyone till after the vote had concluded.

"Guys, I'll make the vote easier for you," Ash said with a tear in her eyes as she walked over to where her NFL-R, lied on the floor, walked up to Ish, and handed it to him, "I can't be a Guardian anymore, not with Endgame in my head, trying to use me to destroy you guys, for that reason, I'm turning in my NFL-R." Ash said as she held back a sob as Ish took the NFL-R in his hands and before he could reply, she turned around and ran out of the HOK, tears rolling down her face.

"I can't believe that just happened." Ricky said in a low whisper, that everyone heard clearly, as Ish pocketed her NFL-R, and ran after the red-headed Guardian, as Ricky took a step to follow him, Joseph put a hand on his shoulder, and as soon as Ricky turned to face his friend and ask why, a head shake and a look from Joseph said it all without any words being needed.

* * *

"Ash, slow down!" Ish called after her as he finally caught up to her on the sidewalk leading away from the Hall of Fame.

"Ish, what do you want, I just want to be alone." Ash said as she continued to cry.

"I think being alone is the last thing you need right now, I think you need company." Ish said in a caring tone as he put a hand on Ash's shoulder, which earned a brief smile from Ash, but it quickly evaporated and was replaced by a grimace.

"Ish, just face it, while Endgame is in my head, I am a danger." Ash said in a defeated tone as they continued to walk down the sidewalk.

"Ash, she might be in your head, but she cannot control you-." Ish began as Ash spoke up and silenced him.

"Ish, she did control me, she's using me to destroy you and everyone else, I'm a living weapon." Ash said in a sad tone.

"Ash, she might have controlled you, but she cannot break you, nobody can." Ish said, and that surprised Ash.

"Ish, lets face the facts here, I am broken, and I doubt I can be fixed." Ash said as she began to cry a little harder.

"Everything that's broken can be fixed, expect for you Ash, for you are not broken, you are the strongest willed person I know, and that's no joke, and Endgame cannot break you." Ish said with a smile on his face as he tried to encourage his best friend.

"I already am." Ash said in a defeated whisper, which Ish heard clearly.

"You might not see it Ash, but Endgame must be afraid of you if she wants to destroy you, you've got her sacred Ash." Ish said in an encouraging tone, and that surprised Ash.

"I think she's scaring me more than I'm scaring how, and also... how the heck am I scaring her!" Ash yelled in annoyance, her eyes though remained green.

"Think about it Ash, she must know you are powerful, you've stood up to Sudden Death, Wild Card, the Anticorians, and now Endgame, as I said, you are the strongest person I've ever known, and that will never change." Ish said with a smile as he put his hand on Ash's shoulder again, and Ash finally let loose a big smile, as she took a risk and gave Ish a big hug, Ish was surprised by this, but he did not hesitate as he hugged her right back, and they both could feel the flutter in their hearts, as this moment could pass, but the feelings they where feeling now had been ignited, and they would not be put out easily.

 **I thought you all might like this emotional moment, take a break from all the darkness.**


	32. Chapter 32

**I want to thank everyone for their continued support of this story, well I've got great news, I've got two more stories planned, and they direct sequels to this story, I hope y'all enjoy.**

"I'm glad we didn't have to vote." Marty said as he and Joseph could be found at Joseph's house, playing a video game, which they where doing rather intensely.

"I agree, I hate to hurt anyone I care for," Joseph said as he won the round of the video game they where playing, and he put down his controller, "I really can't believe the way Troy wanted to deal with this situation, and I resent him for that." Joseph said as he reclined in his seat with a heavy sigh.

"I ask you not to judge Troy, while I agree with you, Troy often is very rash and quick to anger, and give him credit for him being scared for our safety." Marty said as he as well put down his controller.

"I don't care," Joseph began with another heavy sigh, 'we shouldn't be voting on-." Joseph began as Marty raised a hand to silence him.

"I cant believe I'm saying this, but I think what happened today is a good thing, it allowed us to see what's going on with Ash, and will allow us to prepare..." Marty said as he let that point sink in, and that did not sit well with Joseph.

"Prepare for what exactly?" he asked in an accusing tone, and Marty could sense hostility in the question.

"I hate to say this Joseph, but Ash might be dangerous, she easily took out all of us-." Marty began before Joseph silence him with a look.

"She did not hurt Ish," Joseph said in an angry tone, "she was able to gain control, and that's all the matters." Joseph said as he stood up and started to leave the room.

"Maybe she did this time, but we can't always count on that, and next time, Ish might not be able to stop her..." Marty let that hang as the rookie Guardian left the room.

* * *

"Man, I wish I could have helped." Ricky said as he and Tua could be found relaxing on the vacant football field.

"Same here man, but perhaps it would have made things worse." Tua said wisely as he took a seat on the freshly cut grass, and Ricky followed suit, making sure to keep his broken arm from touching the ground.

"Maybe we could have defused the situation." Ricky said just as wisely, as he contemplated what he would have done if he had been there.

"Maybe," Tua admitted as he rubbed his chin in contemplation, "but with how Troy reacted, if we where there, we might have made things worse, since we wouldn't know how to react, and who's side to take." Tua said, and Ricky had to admit that the his friend had a very good point.

* * *

It was late at night in the city and everyone had turned in for the night... well... almost everyone. At the city park, Ash sat in one of the swings and looked down at the ground sadly as her feet just grazed the sand underneath her. Her eyes were red and puffy after crying her eyes out a few hours ago and the cold night air stung her face, but she didn't care. Her hands were gripping the swings chains tightly as she lazily bobbed back and forth very slowly.

Why would Ash be at the park so late at night and all alone?

This is where she comes when she wants to be alone. After quieting the team, Ash felt like she just lost a piece of herself and even though Ish managed to cheer her up a little, it still didn't change her mind. She had to quit the team in order to protect them, she had no choice. Besides, they were ready to vote her off the team anyway, she just made the choice a lot easier for them.

"Hey" Ash heard from behind her and she instantly recognized the voice.

"What are you doing here, Ish?" she asked, not even turning around to face him.

"I could ask you the same thing" Ish said as he took a seat in the swing next to Ash "What are you doing out here so late at night?"

"Where else am I gonna go?" Ash asked, again not looking at him.

"How about home?" Ish asked her "Your dad is probably freaking out wondering where you are"

"I can't risk going back home" Ash told him "With me being so dangerous and unpredictable lately, I can't risk hurting him or Linda"

"Ash..." Ish said with a sigh "You're my best friend and I know you better than anybody. I know that you would never intentionally hurt your dad or anybody for that matter."

Ash glanced over at him as he continued "You're a good person, Ash and you have a good heart. You may not see it, but I do; you have a good heart full of light and goodness. Nothing is ever gonna change that"

"But..." Ash began, but Ish cut her off as he grabbed a hold of her hand.

"Listen to me, Ash. I know you're not exactly a girly girl or you're not a fan of all that mushy stuff, but I want you to know that I think you're an incredible person. You're fun, you're smart and you're the toughest girl I know with a heart of gold and a will made out of iron. No matter what people say, you will always be amazing to me"

Ash smiled gently at him as fresh tears filled her eyes and one ran down her cheek. With his free hand, Ish wiped away the tear with his finger as he gently grazed her skin. When he did, Ash felt a jolt go through her body as her eyes locked with his. Just looking into Ish's eyes made her forget everything that's been happening and all that mattered was here and now. Ash didn't know what came over her, but she began to lean towards Ish and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. Ish was surprised by this, but he returned the gesture as he too kissed her gently on her lips.

Ish pulled back slightly as a blush covered his face and smiled warmly at Ash who returned the smile. Her face was red, too but not from the cold this time.

For the next hour or so, Ash and Ish just sit there on the swings looking up at the beautiful star-filled sky while holding their hands tightly together.

* * *

'I know I did the right thing,' Troy argued to himself as he could be found laying in his bed, getting ready for a good nights rest after the events of earlier, 'Ash might be my friend, but I have to acknowledge a potential threat, and Ash is a potential threat,' he continued to argue as he twisted and turned in his bed, 'I know I did the right thing, didn't I?' he finally asked himself.

* * *

 **I want to thank my amazing girlfriend who wrote that Ish and Ash scene, she did way better than I ever could have, I recommend you check her out, as she is among the best authors in my honest opinion.**


	33. Chapter 33

_'It seems I have sewed a wedge between the Guardians, oh how delightful,'_ Endgame mused as she sat plugged into her throne, absorbing and storing all the negative energy she had amassed from both Ash, and her battles with the Guardians, _'with this wedge between them, they should be easy to destroy,'_ she continued to muse as she rubbed her mechanical chin, _'or I could continue to play with them, destroy them slowly, gives me more energy to feed off of, and I could use a source of unlimited energy.'_ Endgame thought as she stood up and unplugged herself from her throne and headed for the pod that would take her to Ash's location, so she could continue to toy with the female Guardian, and her emotions.

* * *

"Ash, we should probably get going, like I said, I know you would never hurt your father or step-mother." Ish said as he and Ash could be found still sitting on th swings of the city park, still holding each-others hand.

"I don't know if that's the best idea." Ash said as even though the kiss she and Ish had shared had cheered her up a lot, the thought of harming her father if she lost control still weighed heavily on her, since she did not want to hurt her parents.

"Ash, I know you, and I know would not lay a finger on your parents, your father in particular." Ish said with a comforting smile, as Ash let out a sigh and they finally let their hands break apart as they stood up from the swing and prepared to leave the city park, as they both shivered in the cool night air.

Suddenly a buzzing noise hit Ish's ears and without saying a word he pushed Ash to the side as a lightning bolt struck the ground where she had been walking, and they both turned to find it's thrower, Endgame.

"Hello Ashley, surprised to see me again?" Endgame asked in a taunting tone as she cracked her mechanical knuckles.

"Ash, run," Ish ordered as he raised his NFL, "Enter the Rush Zone!" he shouted as he armored up.

"Oh the leader wants to defend my minion." Endgame mocked as Ish took up a fighting stance, while Endgame put her hands behind her back.

"She's not your minion Endgame, she never will be!" Ish yelled as he fired an energy blast at Endgame, which bounced off her chest.

"That your best shot," Endgame laughed as she pointed a lone finger at Ish, "here's mine." she taunted as she fired a purple lightning bolt at Ish, who dodged to the side and began running at Endgame.

"Freight Train Force!" Ish yelled as his shield turned orange as he ran towards her, preparing to ram into her with his shield, but Endgame took up a fighting stance and when Ish was within striking range Endgame reared back her right fist and punched the shield, and shattered it with a sound that sounded like breaking glass, and that shocked Ish, as Endgame then proceeded to pin him to the ground, and with one powerful electrified punch deactivated Ish's armor.

"Let him go!" Ash yelled as she had returned to the battlefield and had witnessed Ish's defeat.

"I don't think so," Endgame mocked as she eyes Ash, and while her right hand had Ish pinned, her left pointing finger began firing low powered lightning into his body, and that made Ish twitch around like a fish out of water, and he let out a scream as lightning flowed through his body.

"Endgame, you coward, fight me!" Ash yelled as she took up a fighting stance, as even without her armor, her anger was almost as tough as armor, as her eyes kept flickering back and forth between green an purple, and that made Endgame smile as she saw that, and released Ish and tossed him to the side, as he crashed into the metal swing set.

"I admire your bravery, but without your armor, you are no match for me, none of you are, and need you not forget, I am in your head Guardian, you cannot hope to beat me." Endgame said in an amused tone.

"The human spirit can accomplish anything, I have a heart of gold and will of iron, and I will not let you hurt my friends anymore!" Ash yelled as Ish unbeknownst to Endgame had risen slightly, and had reached into his right pocket and pulled out Ash's NFL-R, and tossed it to her, at the same time Endgame fired a lightning bolt at her, to which Ash began running and jumped into the air and front-flipped through the air and grabbed her NFL-R and slapped it unto her left wrist, "Enter the Rush Zone!" she shouted as her armor materialized, as she landed and took up a combat stance.

"So you have fight in you, good, more power for me." Endgame said in an amused tone as she humored Ash and took up her own combat stance.

"Feed on this!" Ash yelled as she jumped into the air and activated her flight app and took flight, and began flying circles around Endgame, firing a continuous energy blasts at Endgame, but much to her non surprise, the attacks kept bouncing off Endgame.

"When will you learn that your energy blasts will never harm me?" Endgame laughed as she prepared to fire back, as Ash had a risky idea.

 _'She can defend against our energy blasts, but can she defend against her own?'_ Ash mused as she had little time to plan farther as Endgame launched another lightning blast at the air-borne Guardian, but to Endgame's actual surprise, Ash managed to catch the lightning bolt, and throw it back at Endgame, where it struck her in her mechanical chest and actually sent her stumbling backwards a few steps, and she began to laugh.

"Ashley, while I admire the creativity of that last attack, you surely cannot think it's enough to defeat me?" Endgame laughed, but to her surprise, Ash was nowhere to be seen, but suddenly a sound caught Endgame ears, and she looked up and saw Ash soaring towards the ground in front of her.

"Super Stomp!" Ash shouted as she brought her foot down, and due to her momentum she ripped the ground open and it created a miniature earthquake that ripped the ground apart and created a fissure that quickly snaked towards Endgame and the fissure made her stumble backwards, and she fell on her mechanical backside, where Ash flew through the air again and covered the distance between the two of them and began punching Endgame's face so hard that she actually cracked her skull like face, and that made Endgame gaps in pain, as she finally swatted Ash to the side, but it didn't phase her for long as Ash jumped into the air again, "Super Kick!" she yelled as the swirling ball of energy formed on her right foot and she kicked in into Endgame's face, and her skull like face cracked even further, as her face began to glow with a purple energy.

"Give up." Ish ordered as he managed to rise long enough to make his way to Ash's side.

"The battle is lost," Endgame said in a low pain filled whisper, "but the war has just began!" she laughed as she threw a smoke grenade into the ground and vanished into cold night air, leaving the two Guardians behind.


	34. Chapter 34

"You did Ash, you beat her." Ish said as he fell back to the ground, his wounds still hurting him.

"I beat her this time, I don't think my tactics will work the next time." Ash said in an angry tone as she powered down and offered Ish a hand, which he took, and she helped him to his feet.

"What do we do now?" he asked his friend.

"I'm taking your advice, I'm going home, I think it's time for me to face my fears, as cliche as that may sound." Ash said as a small smile formed on her face.

"Sounds like a plan, for you," Ish said with a small laugh, "I don't know what the heck I'm going to do, after all, I can barely stand after being electrocuted." Ish said as he slung his hand over Ash's shoulder and she helped him walk.

"I got a plan for that," Ash said with a smile, and that earned all of Ish's attention, "you'll stay with me for the night, we've got guest room after all, and you where here for me when I needed you most, and now it's my turn to be with you now that you need me most." Ash said with a big smile, and that earned a blush from Ish, and a big smile as well, as they slowly made their way towards Ash's house.

* * *

"Thank God Ash, where have you been young lady?" Charles asked as Ash helped Ish into her living room, and she helped him get situated on the couch.

"We both where kinda... occupied..." Ish answered with a pain filled hiss, and Charles could see the burn marks which had been burned into his shirt and jeans.

"Define occupied." Linda answered before her husband could say it as she entered the room.

"We where attacked-." Ash began as her father interrupted her.

"By Wild Card, or the Anticorians?" Charles asked with a big sigh.

"By Endgame, she's... new to town." Ash said, and that earned a small face-palm from Charles.

"Who is this, Endgame?" Linda asked her step-daughter, as Ish and Ash took the next fifteen minutes describing their battles with Endgame, and that earned concerned looks from Charles and Linda.

"Is Endgame more dangerous than Wild Card?" Linda asked.

"Much more, unlike them who captured us a few times, Endgame seems to have no trouble torturing us to complete her objectives." Ash said with a concerned tone, and that earned a look between Charles and Linda.

"So Endgame attacked you tonight, might I ask why?" Charles asked with a big sigh.

"I have my theories, but I can take a guess from what she said the last time we fought, I'm guessing she feeds off conflict, since she seems to get stronger the longer the battle goes on." Ash explained, and that earned a sharp inhale from her parents.

"Ash, we've been OK with you being a Guardian, but things seem to be a lot more dangerous than normal, and I admit, I'm starting to have second thoughts." Charles said, and that earned a sigh from Ash.

* * *

Ash sighed as she looked up at the starry sky from her roof. Looking up at the stars always made her feel better when she was stressed or when she needed time to think. When she was younger, she and her mother would come up to the roof at night and just lay there as they stared up at the stars. They would sometimes draw out figures in the sky and make up stories about the figures they made. Now a days when she looks up at the stars, all she thinks about is her mother and how much she misses her.

"Hey, kiddo."

Ash looked over as her dad came over to her and took a spot next to her "Beautiful night, ain't it?"

"Yeah, it is." Ash said as she looked down.

Her dad looked at her and sighed "Listen, kiddo about what I said before about having second thoughts on you being a guardian, I only said it because I love you and I worry. I don't wanna loose you, too."

"I know, dad" Ash said looking over at him "For the past few days I've been having seconds, but after what happened today with Endgame... I feel like now, this is what I have to do."

"Ash..."

"I know you're just trying to protect me, dad" Ash continued "But I feel like this is who I am, this is my destiny. I have to stop Endgame in case she ever comes back, I have to do this. Not just for myself and my friends, but Linda, for you... and for mom."

Tears filled Ash's eyes at the mention of her mother, but she held them back. She needed to be strong, just like her mother used to be.

"Sweetie..." her father began as he brought her in for a side hug "No matter what you decide to do, your mother will always be proud of you... and so will I."

Ash's lips quivered and tears pricked her eyes at her father's words "Thanks, dad."

"Anytime, sweetie" he kissed the top of her forehead "So... you and Ish, huh?"

Ash giggled as she looked up at her father "Yeah... I guess. Why?"

Her father shook her head "No reason. He's a good kid and I like him, I just... think it might be time for the talk..."

"Dad!" Ash said surprised, but couldn't help the smile that formed on her face.

"I'm just saying... you two are gonna be getting to that age soon, so..." her father trailed off.

"Dad, don't think it's too soon for that?" Ash asked him.

"I know it is, I just don't want you to grow up so fast" her dad said "But if you ever need to talk about something like that... Linda will be there to explain it to you."

Ash laughed at the last part "Will do, dad" she then stood up "It's getting late, I'm gonna head to bed now"

"Okay, good night sweetie."

"Good night, dad."

Ash climbed back down to her window and crawled inside her room where she was met with Ish.

"Hey" she said with a smile.

"Hey," he said back "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good" Ash answered "How about you?"

"Still a little sore after being electrocuted, but I'll live." Ish told her.

"Good" she nodded as she walked over to him and hugged him tightly "I'm glad you're okay."

"Me, too" Ish returned the hug, but winced slightly as Ash pulled away.

"You alright?" She asked.

"I will be." He answered her as he rubbed his side.

"You wanna stay in here tonight?" Ash asked him "I'm sure a bed is more comfortable than the couch."

Before Ish could answer, a yell could be heard from outside Ash's window "SEPARATE ROOMS, YOU TWO!"

Ash groaned as Ish laughed at her reaction "It's okay, I don't mind sleeping on the couch."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, well... I'll see you in the morning" she kissed him on the cheek "Good night."

"Good night" Ish said with a smile on his face.

Ash closed the door behind him and smiled brightly to herself before she headed off to bed.

 **I want to once again thank my amazing girlfriend for writing this wonderful emotional scene, she did way better than I could have, I recommend you give her stories a read, they are excellent.**


	35. Chapter 35

_'How was she able to defeat me?_ ' Endgame asked herself as she sat plugged into her throne, restoring all energy she had lost during the battle, _'they've never been able to hurt me, and yet she cracked my face-plate, how is this possible?_ ' she asked as with a thought a holographic display appeared before her, and she began analyzing the footage of her battle with Ash and Ish, and one thing caught her attention, and that was that Ash's eyes where purple during the battle, but to her surprise, Ash was able to keep control, and apparently re-direct her own energy back at her.

 _'Hmm, I need to upgrade my defenses, it seems my poison, combined with Ash's connection to the core, has created a new kind of energy, and it's one I have never seen before, so note to self: make sure to leave the battle before she unleashes this power.'_ Endgame thought, as with a sigh she decided it was time to once again attack all Guardians at once, and according to their NFL-R's locations, Ish and Ash could be found at Ash's house, while Troy, Tua and Ricky could be found at the football field, while Joseph and Marty could be found at their Hall Of Knowledge.

 _'Time for me to kick the plan into overdrive I will scatter the Guardians, and begin phase two, but I cannot afford for Ash to interfere, so I think there is only one logical option...'_ Endgame thought as she detached from her throne, and with a thought she activated five of her thirty-two Crushers, and their stasis pods opened, revealing her five Crushers: the first was the soldier like Crusher that had attacked New England opening night, the second wore mechanical sunglasses and mechanical shorts, but it's whole body hummed with electricity, the third Crusher was a giant mechanical bear that had attacked Chicago in the off-season, the fourth borg wore what appeared to be gold neck chains, and had a mechanical Afro, the fifth and final Crusher, was a giant mechanical cardinal, complete with razor sharp talons and beak.

 _'Traitor, Amp, Bruin, Sinner, and Red Crest, attack the five Guardian and keep them away from the Hall of Knowledge, I will take care of the two Guardians present.'_ Endgame ordered her Crushers with a simple though, as they activated and prepared to attack the Guardians, while she herself prepared to destroy the Hall of Knowledge.

* * *

"So Ish and Ash where attacked last night?" Joseph asked RZ.

"Yes, they where both attacked by Endgame at the city park, while Ish was badly injured, Ash managed to fight her off," RZ said as he let that sink in for a moment, "we are still on red alert, since it seems that Endgame will not end her attacks anytime soon." RZ ordered, which earned a head nod from Marty and Joseph.

Suddenly an alarm began blaring in the HOK, "We've got unauthorized passageway activity, prepare for battle!" RZ ordered the two present Guardians, as they quickly armored up as the passageway opened and a very familiar robotic woman dropped into the HOK.

"'Sup Endgame, I heard Ash laid you out last night, you ready for another butt whopping?" Marty joked as he and Joseph took up a combat stance..

"Ash got lucky, you two however, wont be so fortunate." Endgame said in an amused tone as she raised her pointing finger and fired a lightning bolt at the two of them, but Marty teleported behind Endgame and jumped into the air and kicked her in the back of her head, while Joseph slid under the attack and tried to knock her legs out from under her, but all Joseph ended up doing was stubbing his toes, while Marty's attack was true as his surprise attack knocked her forward a few steps.

"To slow." Marty joked as Endgame snarled as he kept teleporting just to the side of her continuous lightning bolt attacks, and fired back with his energy blasts, but to his annoyance, his attacks kept bouncing off her armor.

"Your humor angers me!" Endgame snarled as she formed a fist and fired a purple energy beam that struck Joseph in his chest and it sent the rookie Guardian flying backwards where he landed in a tumbled heap.

"Joseph!" Marty cried in concern as he let out a snarl and began running at Endgame, only for Endgame to swat him to the side when he got close, and Marty was sent flying backwards where he crashed into Joseph who had just managed to rise.

"Only Ashley Reynolds would give me pause," Endgame said in a snarling tone, as she started to slowly make her way towards the two injured Guardians, only to stop surprisingly and a smile formed on her mechanical skull like face, "the mission is complete." Endgame mused as Marty and Joseph managed to rise to their feet and take a very weak fighting stance.

"We are still standing, I don't consider that a complete mission." Marty snarled as he and Joseph looked at each-other briefly and both ran at Endgame, Marty went in high, while Joseph went low, only for Endgame to clap her hands together and a purple energy wave emanated from her hands and it knocked them backwards where Marty landed in a crumbled heap, but Joseph managed to land on his feet.

"You have some fight in you Joseph, I'm impressed." Endgame said in an amused tone.

"I'm full of surprises, as you will find out when I crack your skull like face like an egg!" Joseph snarled as he prepared to keep up the battle.

"Defeat me, or try and save your friends," Endgame began in an amused tone, "before I came here, I dispatched five of my Crushers to attack your friends, while Traitor and Amp failed to apprehend Ashley Reynolds and Ish Taylor, let's just say, that Bruin, Sinner and Red Crest accomplished their mission of kidnapping Tua Tupola, Troy Kang and Ricky Cervantes, I was merely a distraction to keep you occupied, but phase one of my plan is complete, come and find them, if you can, Guardians..." Endgame laughed as she activated the passageway and disappeared into it, leaving Marty and Joseph behind.

 **To be continued...**

 **There are only three chapters left my good friends, what do you think is going to go down in these final three chapters?**


	36. Chapter 36

**Happy Thanksgiving everyone, hope y'all have a great day, here's my gift for the day.**

"Ricky, wake up." Troy said softly as Ricky finally regained consciousness, and let out a big groan, his whole body ached, as it felt like he had been hit with a truck.

"You alright man?" Tua asked as Ricky tried moving, only to find that the only thing he could move around was his head, and he could tell that all three of them where in black stasis pods.

"Where are we?" Ricky asked his friends, as upon looking around, he noticed that he and his two friends where in a dark room, only a low purple glow illuminated parts of the room, and even that barely combated the darkness.

"I don't know, we where attacked by those weird mechanical abominations, and then we woke up here." Troy answered as a door out of their view opened with a mechanical hiss as Endgame walked into the rooms with her hands behind her back, and with a smile on her skull like face.

"Welcome to my humble satellite, is there anything I can get you, to eat or drink, or perhaps you could assist me in my grand plan." Endgame laughed as she walked into their view.

"We will not help you Endgame, not even one bit." Troy spat as he literally spat on the ground at Endgame's feet, which did little to phase the robotic woman.

"Oh Troy Kang, you are helping me with your mere presence-." Endgame began as Ricky spoke up and caught her off.

"Whatever you have planned, it's a shame it won't last, not when our friends find us!" Ricky snarled as Tua nodded his head in agreement.

"Oh I have no doubt they will find you, especially since I left your NFL-R's turned on, after all, I want them to find you, why go to them, when I can make them come to me." Endgame laughed as she turned her backs to them, and prepared to begin the next phase of her master plan.

"Wait," Tua called out, and Endgame paused and turned around to face them once again, "what is your plan?" he asked his enemy, and that made Endgame laugh.

"You will find out soon enough, let's just say, soon the world will be my playground." Endgame said with an evil smile as she left the room and headed towards the throne room.

* * *

"RZ, you sure this is the right area, this is literally vacant farmland." Ish informed his leader through his NFL-R.

"I have locked unto their signal, they should be right in front of you." RZ informed the first Guardian.

"Joseph, you seeing anything from above?" Ish asked Joseph, for he and Ash where using their flight app to stay above ground and keep a birds eye view of the area, while Marty and Ish where on the ground.

"We've got nothing up here." Ash answered in place of Joseph, and that made Ish mutter angrily under his breath, for the longer it took to find their friends, the longer his anger was building.

Suddenly the ground began shaking and it nearly knocked Ish and Marty on their butts.

"An earthquake!?" Marty yelled at his leader.

"I don't think so!" Ish yelled as the ground in front of them split open, and what appeared to be a huge satellite rose above the ground.

"Ish I think we found what we are looking for." Ash said to her leader.

"I cant agree more." Ish yelled as he could barely hear her over the loud shaking off the ground as suddenly the satellite launched into the sky and kept going higher.

"Ish, we locked unto the signal, it's inside the satellite, we are going after it." Ash yelled as she and Joseph put their flight app to full power and started following after it.

"Hold on, we are coming after you!" Ish yelled as he and Marty activated their flight app.

"No Ish, we'll go, you stay behind, as a backup in case we fail!" Ash yelled as she and Joseph where struggling to catch up with the satellite.

"Ash, I don't-." Ish started to say as Ash cut him off.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing!" Ash yelled, and upon exchanging a look with Marty, both of them took flight, but not after their friends.

"Good luck." Ish whispered as he and Marty started flying back towards the HOK.

* * *

"Ash I don't think we are going to catch it!" Joseph yelled as the satellite kept gaining distance on them.

"Don't give up, our friends our counting on us, and we will not give up, not as long as we still draw breath!" Ash ordered as they kept going higher.

"Quick question," Joseph began in an alarmed tone, "can the armor survive the freezing embrace of space?" Joseph asked in a concerned tone.

"Only one way to find out!" Ash yelled as they kept gaining altitude as a little bit later they where in the cold embrace of space, and thankfully the satellite had stopped moving, and was staying stationary over the earth.

"I guess these things can survive in space, never thought I would say that." Joseph joked as they reached the satellite and tried to find a way in, as to their sunrise a door opened in front of them with a mechanical hiss.

"How much do you want to bet this is most likely a... well... you know..." Joseph began as he and Ash looked at each other before entering.

"A trap," Ash supplied with a small smile that he couldn't see due to her gray visor, "most likely, but we got no choice rookie, we've got to save our friends." Ash said as she using her flight app floated into the door, and Joseph followed suit as the door closed with a hiss, trapping them in the satellite.

* * *

"I can barely see anything, even with my night vision." Joseph complained in a whisper as he and Ash could be found sneaking their way through the tight corridors of the satellite.

"Use your NFL-R, it's how I'm leading us through this metal piece of junk, the signal is getting stronger." Ash said as they went through another door, and they found themselves in nearly pitch black room, but the had found what they where looking for.

"Found 'em." Ash whispered as she walked forward and Joseph started to follow suit, but Ash held a hand out, telling him to stay behind and in the shadows, to which he nodded and stayed in the shadows.

"You alright?" Ash whispered as she approached her friends stasis pods.

"Ash what are you doing here?" Ricky whispered in a concerned tone.

"What does it look like I'm doing, I'm here to save you." Ash whispered as started trying to figure out how to free her friends from their stasis pods.

"Ash you've got to get out of here, she knows, she's been-." Troy began as suddenly an energy beam struck Ash in the back of her head and the power was so strong that it knocked her out, as Endgame uncloaked and approached Ash and removed her NFL-R, and threw her in an empty stasis pod.

"Crap!" Joseph whispered as he slunk deeper into the shadows, somehow managing to avoid Endgame's piercing glance.

"Like I told you earlier, it's easier to make your friends come to me." she mocked as with a thought the stasis pods began levitating behind Endgame as she left into the control room of the satellite, leaving the rookie Guardian unnoticed as his friends where forced to follow her into the control room, leaving Joseph to try and formulate a plan.

 **To be continued...**


	37. Chapter 37

"Welcome back to the world of the living Ashley Reynolds," Endgame mocked as Ash regained consciousness a few minutes after the surprise attack, and upon looking around, she noticed she was stuck in a stasis pod, and that she could only move her head, "so much for a rescue." Endgame mocked as a scowl formed on Ash's face.

"You might have us, but you don't have all of us, your trap failed Endgame!" Ash yelled in anger, but to the red-headed Guardians surprise, Endgame bean to laugh softly.

"Always a step behind," she said in an amused tone, "haven't you learned that I'm always a step ahead, I knew that not all of you would follow the satellite, that some of you would stay behind, and needless to say, that only delays the inevitable for a few short minutes." Endgame said in a clam tone.

"What do you mean, 'delay the inevitable?" Troy asked from his stasis pod.

"Surely you can figure it out, but then again, humans are not the most intelligent species in the universe, so allow me to explain for you," Endgame began as with a thought, a holographic display appeared in front of them, and it showed the satellite, "you don't know this, I've been absorbing and storing all the energy from the battles we've raged, while I admit I've used a little of the energy for myself, I've been storing it for when the time was right, and while I planned on waiting, my defeat by Ashley prompted me to speed up my plans, so really you have her to thank for this," Endgame mocked, and that earned a snarl from all the captured Guardians, "you surely muse be wondering what I've been storing the energy for-." Endgame began as Troy cut her off.

"Not really, but I have a feeling your going to tell us anyway." Troy said in a mocking tone of his own, and that made Endgame laugh.

"Your sense of humor never ceases to amuse me Troy Kang," Endgame said with a smirk as with a thought, Troy's pod suddenly became electrified and he screamed in pain for a few seconds as Endgame stopped the electrification after the Guardian had been punished, "as I was saying, I've been storing this energy for a long time, even before I was reawakened," Endgame said, and that confused the Guardians before Endgame kept speaking, "let's just say, this energy is only useful to me, as you can see from your battles with Keith and Jacob, the energy corrupts humans, also you should know their kidnapping was a test, and the test was a success." Endgame said, and that shocked the Guardians, that Endgame would kidnap innocent civilians and use them as test subjects.

"How could you do such a thing, they are innocent!" Tua spat in unusual anger for him.

"Human life means nothing to me, or rather should I say, human life meant nothing to me, until I realized humans where subject to Negacore energy, it corrupts and changes them, and that's very useful to me," Endgame said as the holographic display showed thirty-two black footballs that glowed with a purple aura, "the Negacore's where made as opposite to the Megacore's, and unlike the Meagacore's which gain more power from good emotions, my Negacore's feed off of hatred and despair, and the aggression of battle, and they are very useful at corrupting humans, as you will experience first hand in a few minutes, when I turn the energy loose." Endgame said as the holographic display showed a giant ship buried beneath the ground.

"That how you arrived on earth, you metal piece of junk?" Ash mocked from her stasis pod.

"Why do you ask a question you know the answer to," Endgame mused as she pressed a button on her wrist, and the holographic display began to show images, but the Guardian couldn't figure out what it was showing them, and upon realizing that, Endgame with a smile began to explain, "shortly from now my ship will channel the power of all thirty-two Negacore's and send it to this satellite through an invisible energy beam, which will then fill the satellite with all the negative energy I've been storing, this satellite will then fire it's own energy beam to other satellite's that you humans have put in orbit, and the beam will spread the energy to them, covering the earth in a blanket of Negacore energy, turning the earth dark and corrupted, and giving me an unlimited supply of energy to feed off of for years to come, and my revenge will be complete." Endgame said in an mused tone.

"What did we ever do to you?" Ricky spat at the robotic female.

"I believe the human saying is, 'it's nothing personal,'" Endgame said with a small laugh as she turned her back to them, and went over to a control panel and began typing in a few commands before speaking again, "your crime was getting in my way, but you where never my true targets, for some of your allies have known of my existence for a long time, they just choose never to say anything, a mistake they wont live long enough to regret..." Endgame mused as she typed in the final command, and a single button emerged from the control panel, and it was obvious to the Guardians that when this button was pushed, it would be all over.

"You don't have to do this, think of all the innocent people you will kill." Ash pleaded, now trying to appeal to Endgame's emotional side, but she had no way of knowing that Endgame had little in the way of human emotions.

"They will not be killed, at most they will become corrupted, and I can use them as batteries to feed off of." Endgame said as she prepared to push the button.

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" a new voice entered the room, and they all looked to their left and saw Joseph standing there, already in a combat stance.

"Joseph Sanders, I knew you where here, and I was just wondering when you where going to show yourself." Endgame said in an amused tone.

"Wait's over, and it's time to send you to the scrap heap!" Joseph snarled as he prepared to fire an energy blast at Endgame's skull like face.

"I have no time for this, be gone!" Endgame snarled as she quickly fired a lightning bolt at Joseph, who ran forward and front-flipped over the attack, and landed a dive kick to Endgame's face, who stumbled backwards but kept her footing.

"You want to hurt everyone I love, you've got to go through me!" Joseph snarled as he and Endgame began exchanging a series of punches and kicks that lasted for several minutes, before Endgame finally countered one of Joseph's attacks and sent him flying backwards where he landed on the control panel, and to make matters worse, he had landed on the button, Endgame's plan was now underway, and there seemed to be no way of stopping it.

"You've failed, Joseph," Endgame laughed as she kept firing lightning bolts at the rookie Guardian, "soon the earth will be engulfed in dankness, and I will have an unlimited supply of energy to feed off of, and let's say you and the others escape, I will hunt you down and kill you all, slowly and painfully, as well as my true targets..." Endgame laughed as Joseph decided it was time to try something...

"Copycat!" Joseph yelled as he suddenly fired a lightning bolt at Endgame, which struck her as she was unprepared for the attack and sent her flying backwards and crashed through a closed door.

"Didn't know I could copy your powers Endgame, but I decided to try it, and needless to say, I'm liking all the abilities my HUD is saying I can now do, and I think I'm more than a match for you." Joseph mocked as he fired a lightning bolt from four of his fingers that hit the base of his friends stasis pods, freeing them from their prison, and he tossed Ash her NFL-R, which Endgame had neglected.

"Enter the Rush Zone!" they all shouted as their armor formed around them, as Ash ran to the control panel, and tried to turn off the beam that would surely be making it's way towards the satellite.

"I don't now how to stop it!" she yelled in fear as she didn't know how to access Endgame's technology.

"That's because you can't," Endgame laughed as she re-entered the room, "you will fail, no doubt about it." Endgame mocked as she started firing rapid fire lightning bolts at the Guardians, who began ducking and weaving around the bolts.

"Guardians retreat, we've got to get out of here and warn RZ, we might not be able to stop it from here, but maybe he can!" Ash yelled as she and her friends retreated and headed for the door that she and Joseph had entered the satellite through, but upon arriving at the airlock, she noticed that Joseph was missing.

"Joseph, where are you?" Ash asked through her NFL-R.

"Get out of here, I'm staying behind to try and stop it!" Joseph yelled as the sounds of battle could be heard over the communications line.

"We are not leaving without you Joseph!" Ricky yelled over his NFL-R.

"Just go, go!" Joseph yelled as the airlock suddenly opened and sucked them out into space, as the door was sealed behind them, preventing them from re-entering the satellite, but that was a minor problem due to the vacuum of space had sucked them quite a good distance away from the satellite and to make matters worse suddenly the satellite exploded in a cloud of purple energy, and that shocked the Guardians.

"Joseph, do you read me," Ash yelled over her communication app, "come in Joseph!" Ash yelled as the line was dead silent.

"Is he?" Ricky said in a barely audible whisper, to which they then let silence overtake them, as they started making their way down to earth back towards the HOK.

* * *

"Thank God, you guys OK," Ish asked as soon as his friends entered the HOK, to which he was met by silence, and he now noticed that the rookie Guardian was missing, "where's Joseph?" Ish asked his friends, to which they deactivated their armor and seeing their tear filled eyes was the only answer Ish needed, for him to know that Joseph had been killed in action.


	38. Chapter 38

**Here is the final chapter my good friends., I also want to thank my great friend and co-creator Duroth for helping me write and edit this chapter.**

"How did this happen?" Ish asked as he and his friends stood inside the HOK.

"I'll tell you how it happened, we failed." Ash whispered.

"I have to agree. He was our little brother, and we failed to protect him." Marty said, his face uncharacteristically grim.

"Guardians, you cannot blame yourselves. You did everything you could to help him," RZ said. He as well felt guilt for the loss of the rookie Guardian, for he had allowed him to go into combat earlier than he wished.

"Is it possible that he survived?" Ricky said. Everyone perked up. "Joseph was wearing his armor at the time the satellite was destroyed, so he could have survived when he was sucked out into space."

"It is possible for him to survive the vacuum of space," RZ said, and that raised their hopes. "But as sad as it is to say, he was most likely killed in the explosion or upon re-entry–"

RZ was halted by Tua speaking up. "We survived re-entry just fine, why wouldn't he?"

"Because even if he survived the explosion, he might have been unconscious, and therefore unable to control his re-entry." RZ said. The Guardians all looked away, their spark of hope gone.

Suddenly the familiar sound of the passageway was heard, and the passageways to all thirty-two stadiums opened. All thirty-two Rusherz entered the HOK simultaneously.

"Is it true what happened?" Swoop, the Eagles Rusher asked. The other Rusherz assembled behind him, letting him take point on the loaded question. Ish answered with a single nod.

"... Oh. I'm so sorry," Swoop said, lowering his head. The HOK was quiet for a long, sad moment.

Freedom, the Patriots Rusher clenched his fists. "Endgame, how could you do this?"

Ash head the question and looked up, blinking away angry tears. "Endgame is insane, end of story."

"I know that, but she–" Freedom was cut off as Bolt, the Chargers Rusher, put a hand over his mouth.

"That's enough, Freedom."

"No, let him finish." Ash said.

"I don't think that's a wise–"

"A wise what?" Ish shouted Bolt down.

"Guy's we can't play stupid," Beast, the Lions Rusher said, heaving a sigh. "I think they deserve to know the truth."

"'The truth about what?" Troy asked.

"You deserve to know the truth... about Endgame." Beast said. The Guardians all took a step back in surprise.

"I thought you never knew anything about her," Ash said. "We asked you about her weeks ago!"

"I lied." Freedom answered simply. Bolt turned and tried to stare him down, but Freedom ignored him.

"You knew about her, and you didn't tell us?" Troy roared.

"Yes, we did, we all did." Freedom said as he turned around and faced all thirty-two of his counterparts.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Ish asked, calmer than Troy.

"Guilt," Freedom began, earning a surprised look from all the Guardians. "Endgame is our biggest failure. We couldn't save her, just like we couldn't save Joseph."

"How is she you biggest failure?" Marty asked.

"Endgame was once one os us, a Rusher," he began. "When Sudden Death attacked our world, Endgame lead the defense against him–"

"What happened to her?" Ish asked.

"I'm getting there," Freedom answered simply, "When we started to loose the war, Endgame mechanized herself, replaced every part of living flesh with unforgiving pistons and wires."

"Why did she go bonkers, was it the mechanization?" Tua asked.

"No, she proposed removing the core and using that as a weapon to fight the Anticorians. But when we refused she turned against us. She became convinced that we weren't doing enough to save our world, so she created her own Core; some kind of negative version of it. Ash, you've experienced these so called Negacores. They feed off of negative energy; hate, despair, fear."

"What happened next?" Ish asked.

"We never knew for ceratin. She vanished before we removed the core, and we thought that she had died or had fled our world. I'm guessing as I'm saying this, but it seems that she somehow followed us to Earth, and was just recently activated again."

"I can't believe you kept this from us, after all we've been through!" Troy spat.

"We trusted you, Joseph trusted you!" Marty hissed.

"How many more secrets are you keeping from us?" Ricky snarled, "and I'm not just asking about Endgame."

"Guardians please, we didn't want to keep this information. We felt to guilty about our role in Endgame's rise." Freedom pleaded, desperate for forgiveness.

"I hope you feel guilty," Marty hissed again, "RZ, what do you have to say?"

"I can see both sides of this argument." he answered simply.

"Now it does not matter what we hid from you." Beast began, "We must act fast if Endgame survived, and that means–"

"What are you saying exactly?" Tua asked.

"We need the Guardians back at full strength. We alone cannot hope to stop her, RZ, it's time to activate another Guardian." Beast said, and that earned loathing looks from three of the original Guardians.

"Your going to cast him aside–" Troy began.

"He literally just died to save us, and your–" Ricky snarled.

"Going to cast him aside as if he was nothing!" Marty finished.

"Guardians, please calm down." RZ pleaded to his three angry Guardians.

"If they think like that count me out as a Guardian." Troy spat angrily.

"Same here, your lie killed our little brother." Ricky said with much malice.

"You killed our best friend, hope you can live with that on your conscious." Marty said as he and his two other friends prepared to leave the HOK.

"Turn in your NFL-R's if you are quitting," Bolt said, "you walk out that door, you don't deserve them anymore."

"You can replace them, just like you replaced Joseph..." Marty said as he, Troy and Ricky excited the HOK. Ish, Ash and Tua as well as the Rusherz started in silence.

"What are you three going to do?" Bolt asked.

"I don't know about you, but I'm going to destroy Endgame, for Joseph." Ash said as she clenched a fist.

"I'm the leader of the team, and I will have to live with the fact that I failed to protect him. I will not let Endgame take another friend from me." Ish said in a determined tone.

"Joseph would not want us mourn. He would want us to continue the fight, and I will do that." Tua said with a head nod.

"Glad you can forgive us." Swoop said with a heavy sigh.

"I personally can't say I forgive you. But if Joseph where here, he wouldn't want anger to cloud our vision." Ish said wisely.

"Glad to still have you in our corner." Beast said softly.

"Agreed, me must remain level headed, for Joseph." RZ said.

"RZ, we are going to need more than one Guardian." Freedom said.

"Don't worry." RZ began as he pulled up displays of seven profiles, with the words "Non-Active" highlighted in red next to their names. "I have a few names in mind." he said as he switched the words to green font that read "Active..."

 **AN: I want to thank my friends and fans for making this story my most reviewed and popular story in all the seven years I've been writing. unto the End Credits:**

 **Nobel Six: Creator/ Writer**

 **The Dark Lord Duroth: Co-Creator/ Writer**

 **AliE96: Consultant/ Writer**

 **Death Fury: Consultant**

 **Fatheringbottam: Consultant**

 **The Story's Shadow: Consultant**

 **Darkest Nightmare's Dread: Editor/ Writer**

 **And last but not least, I want to thank all the loyal fans who have stuck by this story, rest assured. A sequel is int he works, with the same team working on it. I hope y'all enjoy it, till then Nobel Six over and out...**

 **Coming Soon: "NFL Rush Zone: Power Struggle"**


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